Coaching great Leigh Matthews has urged Geelong coach Chris Scott to persist with playing Esava Ratugolea in the ruck.
After not playing in the first two months of the season, the 22-year-old has featured in the last five games for the Cats and has impressed primarily in a ruck role.
How Geelong uses the versatile big man as part of their ruck setup remains one of the key questions heading into the second half of the season, with Matthews hoping to see more of him as a ruckman.
“Part of the coaching art is when to persevere and when to make a change,” he said on Sportsday.
“There has been no obvious ruck option for Geelong in the last year or two, Rhys Stanley has been their main ruckman with Mark Blicavs as a backup.
“Esava Ratugolea, he’s a big man and a bit like a junior version of Nic Naitanui. I’d be persevering with him, whatever he can do now is valuable, but if you get him rucking for a couple of months and I reckon you might have the odd bad game, but I think Geelong will be a much better team.
“I think he can improve that little bit with the experience of a couple more months of rucking.
“That’s a persevere (option) for me.”
Geelong continues to search for their best ruck option, with Stanley and Blicavs both playing in the position this season with help from Ratugolea.
The Cats will take on the Western Bulldogs at GMHBA Stadium in the opening game of Round 14.