The 20-year-old from Northern Territory has been at the Cattery since the 2006 draft, but injury and a hot AFL team has seen him cool his heels in the VFL for much of the time.
He has played in the NAB Cup and performed reasonably well but at 176cm, had to compete for a spot with the likes of Shannon Byrnes, Mathew Stokes and Travis Varcoe.
Geelong coach Mark Thompson said Sunday’s game was Djerrkura’s best chance to play with Paul Chapman already ruled out, and Byrnes and Ryan Gamble in doubt.
“We would love to give him the opportunity to play,” Thompson said of Djerrkura.
“In the last three weeks in the VFL he has performed really well and he looks like a league player.”
Thompson rated veteran defender Darren Milburn (ankle) and Byrnes (hamstring) as 90 per cent chances of returning to the side.
But both needed to prove their fitness at Thursday evening’s training session.
The Cats will lose Chapman (finger) and Gamble’s position is in doubt after he was heavily concussed during the second quarter of last week’s win over the Bulldogs.
“Ryan’s got to do all the testing and train tonight. If he runs around and he’s got no headaches and he passes all his tests, he’ll be a chance to play,” Thompson said.
Meanwhile, Thompson said ruckman Brad Ottens had finally turned the corner after a slower than expected recovery from a medial train injury suffered in round two.
Ottens was originally expected to miss 4-6 weeks but has already missed seven and is at least another three weeks away.
“Brad’s going to be running hopefully this week and he’s still probably three weeks away,” he said.
“He really has turned the corner and on his way to recovery.”
