St Kilda coach Brett Ratten has confirmed skipper Jarryn Geary has recovered from a hamstring injury and will return to the line-up for their AFL clash with Carlton.
However, an unexpected shorter five-day turnaround has made it harder for Zak Jones to prove he is fit to take on the Blues.
The Saints’ clash with Carlton at Marvel Stadium was brought forward to Thursday night from Saturday evening after the league was forced to revamp the round-five fixture due to COVID-19 measures imposed by the Queensland government.
Jones reported hamstring soreness after last week’s win over Richmond and Ratten told reporters on Wednesday that the shorter turnaround is likely to result in more caution taken with the former Sydney midfielder.
“It probably doesn’t help Jones … it was going to be 50-50 but now it’s more like 70-30 the other way,” Ratten said.
“Geary will be fine, he’ll play, but Jones is the one that we’ve got to look at the risk versus the reward … that will be the talking point after training.
“He hasn’t nicked (the hamstring), he’s just sore, so that’s the debate we’ll have.”
Jones did not participate in Wednesday’s main training session at Moorabbin, the important midfielder jogging at half-pace in straight-line run-throughs instead.
Geary will return after suffering a hamstring injury in round two against the Western Bulldogs.
The veteran defender was redeployed up forward against the Dogs, playing a defensive role on playmaker Jason Johannisen.
Ratten didn’t rule out using Geary in a similar role against Carlton co-captain Sam Docherty, who was a key factor in the Blues tight win over Essendon with 31 disposals and eight rebound 50s.
“We’ve got to have a look at where he fits for us … he’s been a back man most of his career,” Ratten said.
“It was a strategy (tagging Johannisen) that we thought would work on the day, but Docherty’s a different player to JJ, so does that work? I’m not sure.
“We’ll go through that with finer detail after this training session.”