Geelong know they need to shut down Lachie Neale.
Brisbane are ready and waiting for the Cats to try to keep their star mover quiet – and some of his mates in maroon too.
Doing so is another matter altogether.
Geelong midfielder Tom Atkins has had some run-with roles at times and could yet get to grips with Neale in Saturday evening’s AFL preliminary final at the MCG.
“Yeah, we’ll see what happens. We’ll talk about that during the week,” a coy Atkins told AAP.
“But he’s obviously a superstar, so any time you can curb his influence, I think it will go well to helping the team.”
Two-time Brownlow medallist Neale, who is managing a lingering heel issue, was tagged with effect by GWS stopper Toby Bedford in Brisbane’s thrilling semi-final win last week.
Veteran Dayne Zorko expected him to attract similar attention from the Cats.
“He cops it every week. So it’d be nothing new,” Zorko said.
“We certainly plan for it.”
Zorko, who has delivered drive and poise off half-back, also had to get to grips with attention, as GWS’s James Peatling played a defensive forward role on him in the semi-final.
“Doesn’t bother me either way,” the 35-year-old shrugged.
“We saw last week, there were three or four of us who got a little bit of run with roles.
