Cats' Cockatoo hurts thumb in AFL

Mar 27, 2017 - 10:43 AM Emerging Geelong star Nakia Cockatoo will need thumb surgery, sidelining him for up to a month at the start of the AFL season.

Cockatoo suffered the injury in Sunday's big win over Fremantle, when he also produced an early contender for goal of the year.

The 20-year-old only played 10 games last season because of injury and he will have the operation on Tuesday.

"He's going to miss probably a few weeks, maybe four," Cats coach Chris Scott told Fox Sports.

"Coaches are always loath to get too excited about young players.

"But one thing we do love about Nakia, he takes this stuff in his stride.

"He has had a tough run - the doctors were talking to him today and his reaction was something to the effect of 'oh well, okay, I will be back in three weeks'"

Meanwhile, Scott doubts the high scoring that was a feature of round one is unlikely to last.

Teams averaged 103.6 points across week one, a significant rise on the home-and-away average of 88.76 last year.

Geelong scored freely in their 42-point win over Fremantle at Domain Stadium on Sunday, with 18.7 (115) to 10.13 (73).

Scott says rule changes in recent years have encouraged higher scoring but he doesn't expect teams to be able to keep up with the pace set in round one.

"From memory it was a little bit similar last year," Scott said.

"And probably one of the best theories I heard there is that it's weather related.

"When the grounds are hard and fast and the sun's shining, it's easier to score.

Scott added it was increasingly difficult for teams to rely solely on a stingy defence to get them over the line.

"I do think that it's accepted throughout the competition that if you can't score, you're going to have to be the best defensive team of all time," Scott said.

"The way the rules are and the way the game's opened up, it's very difficult to close it down.

"It's almost impossible to force repeat stoppages these days.

"In almost every situation, the umpires have a very good option to pay a free kick one way or the other.

"So if it's going to be open, it's almost impossible to say, 'We're going to stop them scoring, and we'll win with 50 points ourselves'."

Scoring wasn't the only thing on the rise last week, with the AFL also setting a new record for a single-round crowd attendance.

A total of 400,401 passed through the turnstiles, easily eclipsing the previous record of 371,212 set in round 15, 2013.

ROUND ONE CROWDS

73,137 at MCG to watch Richmond beat Carlton

66,254 at MCG to watch Bulldogs beat Collingwood

36,249 at Etihad Stadium to watch Melbourne beat St Kilda

33,129 at SCG to watch Port Adelaide beat Sydney

78,294 at MCG to watch Essendon beat Hawthorn

12,710 at Metricon Stadium to watch Brisbane beat Gold Coast

21,997 at Etihad Stadium to watch West Coast beat North Melbourne

43,993 at Adelaide Oval to watch Adelaide beat GWS

34,638 at Domain Stadium to watch Geelong beat Fremantle

TOTAL: 400,401

PREVIOUS RECORD: 371,212 set during round 15, 2013.

Source: AAP