Friday night’s Carlton-Geelong match at Etihad Stadium pits 13th versus third, with the Cats vying for victory No. 7 on the trot.

Having prevailed in the frenetic final moments of last weekend’s match with Fremantle at Simonds Stadium, Geelong must now find a replacement for Stevie Johnson and Jimmy Bartel.

The pair's unavailability is of obvious concern, but Chris Scott will quite rightly turn to his captain Joel Selwood to deliver.

Question is, will Mick Malthouse respond with a run-with type to curb the Geelong captain’s influence?

More than likely and good luck to the guy who gets  the gig on the player leading his club’s average handballs, contested possessions, average clearances, centre clearances and tackles.

For “The Pivotonians”, Allen Christensen and Harry Taylor both rank with Selwood in the “players to watch” category. Christensen is just six games into a wretched 2014 season, but he’s made up for lost time with 51 disposals in the past fortnight. Christensen’s standing in the stats – second for Geelong in contested possessions per match and second in average clearances – means he is a footballer who warrants respect.

Taylor, meanwhile,  is coming off a career-high 19 mark performance against Fremantle, where he efficiently racked up 27 touches. Harry, who sits 17th in the comp for contested marks (and is the only full-time defender in the top 30 in respect of this stat) in career-best form.

Needless to say, the challenge confronting Marc Murphy and Co. is enormous. But there’s more than one way . . .