GEELONG coach Chris Scott has declared star recruit Bailey Smith a "lock" to return for the Cats' blockbuster against Brisbane.
Smith, who starred in Geelong's round-one belting of Fremantle, was a late withdrawal for last week's clash with St Kilda due to a calf complaint.
But the former Western Bulldogs ace will fly up to Brisbane to prepare for Saturday night's match, the first game between the rivals since the Lions shaded the Cats in an epic preliminary final last year.
Scott also expects Tom Stewart to play despite the star defender being subbed off with a knee injury in a shock loss against the Saints.
"As it stands at the moment, we expect them to play," Scott told reporters on Thursday about Smith and Stewart.
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Kate McCarthy, Nat Edwards and Josh Gabelich discuss Essendon’s 12-game winning streak over North Melbourne and the unwanted record that they are close to breaking.
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‘Can the tagger with swagger stop mids like Jagga?’: Which Blues mid will cop the Tholstrup tag?
Nat Edwards, Josh Gabelich and Kate McCarthy praise Melbourne’s Koltyn Tholstrup after successfully negating Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera and Caleb Serong in the last two weeks, and question which Carlton midfielder he has his eyes on this week.
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"I think we saw enough of Bailey (at training) to know he's a lock unless something happens, and (Stewart) is very likely, but didn't do as much work as Bailey.
"(Stewart's) eager to play, but he's a realist too.
"This is unscientific, and I probably shouldn't say it, but my experience with him is his powers of recuperation are amazing.
"So it didn't surprise me to see him sort of bounce back pretty quickly."
