15/09/2008 3:33 PM
Geelong forward Paul Chapman still has some convincing to do if he is to line up in Friday night's First Preliminary Final against the Western Bulldogs at the MCG.
Chapman, who has a history of hamstring troubles, has been under a cloud since retiring to the bench early with hamstring soreness in the Cats' qualifying-final win over St Kilda last Sunday week.
Coach Mark Thompson said Chapman will need to take part in Tuesday's closed training session at Skilled Stadium and complete Thursday's open session to be considered for selection.
"He trained really well yesterday, he trained hard, fast and kicked the ball and ran at top speed," Thompson said at Skilled Stadium on Monday.
"He's got a few boxes to tick yet, but he's certainly on his way."
Thompson agreed the club needs to be cautious with Chapman, considering his poor track record of soft-tissue injuries.
"We have to make the right decision for sure," Thompson said.
"He had an injury about five weeks ago and it's not that he's torn anything now but it's in the same area."
"We have to make a responsible decision that we put a team out there that can play four quarters of footy and we don't want to be a player down at quarter time."
Thompson said that James Kelly, the logical replacement for injured midfielder Brent Prismall, was a '95 percent' chance of playing after having missed three matches with a quad injury, though doubts remain over the selection prospects of David Wojcinski.
Wojcinski, a member of the club's 2007 AFL premiership line-up, hasn't played at AFL level since Round 15 because of an Achilles injury.
"He's certainly available to play - it's whether we decide to pick him or not and it would be rude of me and wrong to speculate at this stage."