GEELONG coach Mark Thompson last night made the toughest call of his career: dropping a young player and reinstating an experienced hand for the AFL grand final.
I strongly believe that Geelong made the right decision in selecting Steven King to replace Mark Blake.
Both Mark Williams and Warren Tredrea have found time this week to buy into Geelong's ruck selection quandary.
The Port Adelaide camp will be looking to gain a psychological edge, and their ruckmen, Brendon Lade and Dean Brogan, will no doubt have paid close attention to the debate that has raged all week about who should play second fiddle to Brad Ottens in the ruck.
As it stands, they will both have their hands full with Ottens. The Geelong ruckman is enjoying career-best form, and he was undoubtedly one of the outstanding players in the preliminary final last week.
I have always found that Ottens excels at the technical aspects of ruck work. When he assumes the front position, it is almost impossible to move him. His ability to win the ball on the ground and his workrate around the contest have combined to make him an elite player.
I still feel that Lade and Brogan represent the No. 1 ruck combination in the AFL. Yet a break-even result with Ottens and King will be a good one for the Power.
It's reasonable to assume the Port boys would have been hoping to get a crack at Blake. They would not have respected his ability to win the ball around the ground, as he has averaged only three kicks and nine disposals in his 22 matches this season.
Lade, in particular, would have been able to dictate terms to his younger opponent. The Port Adelaide enforcer has the football brain and the ability to score multiple goals if matched against Blake.
The Geelong coaching box obviously didn't want this headache and rightfully went for the safer option.
The selection of King will provide a much different proposal for Lade and Brogan.
King is a 192-game veteran, a dual best and fairest winner, an All-Australian, and a former club captain.
While injuries have no doubt shaken the big man's confidence, ability does not disappear overnight. King's form in the VFL over the past fortnight has been impressive: he gathered 26 possessions and 34 hit-outs in a best-on-ground performance in the VFL preliminary final, and he was equally effective in Geelong's VFL premiership win last week.
I can sense a fierce desire within King to prove to his teammates and the public that he can recapture the form that made him one of the competition's best ruckmen. It is a bold selection by Thompson and his coaching panel; but my experience suggests, from playing against him for over 10 years, that Kingy will not let them down.
