Sydney will get its first taste of the ‘Holy Trinity’ when Geelong’s Gary Ablett, Patrick Dangerfield and Joel Selwood descend on the SCG on Thursday night.

Ablett missed the Swans’ clash with the Cats at GMHBA Stadium in Round 6 this season and will return to the SCG for the first time since Round 2, 2013.

The midfield duel between the star Cats trio and battle-hardened Swans Josh Kennedy, Luke Parker and Dan Hannebery looms as one of the most tantalising drawcards.

Ablett, Dangerfield and Selwood have 790 games, three Brownlow Medals and seven Geelong best-and-fairest medals between them.

They lead the way for the Cats on the inside and outside of the contest and Ablett and Dangerfield can do damage on the scoreboard when resting in the forward line.

While Kennedy, Parker and Hannebery have long carried the mantle for the Swans in the midfield, tagger George Hewett could play an important role himself if he’s sent to one of the three formidable Cats on-ballers.

But while Geelong’s midfield boasts three of the best midfielders in recent memory, the Cats throw up dangers in their forward line and defence.

Powerful key forward Tom Hawkins is Geelong’s go-to man forward of the ball.

The 466-goal juggernaut has topped the Cats’ goal-kicking every season since 2012 and has booted 28 majors across 12 games this season.

His bustling lead, sure hands overhead and reliability in front of goal make him one of the most ominous forwards in the competition.

At the other end of the ground, Geelong’s defence holds the fort.

The Cats have conceded the fewest points in the competition this season (986) and have leaked just 70 points per game.

They have kept the opposition to less than 60 points on seven occasions.

Geelong has named key defender Mark Blicavs, who was in doubt for the Round 16 opener after injuring his toe last week – and the 198-centimetre giant is likely to play on star Sydney forward Lance Franklin.

Geelong coach Chris Scott said a Blicavs-Franklin match-up would make for an exciting contest.

“Franklin’s clearly one of the best, if not the best key forwards in the game,” Scott said.

“So it would be a great challenge for Mark if he does get it. They’re two pretty good athletes going at it. Mark’s certainly the type of person and player who would relish the challenge. Whenever you’re playing on Buddy you’re nervous about what might happen, but I don’t think he’ll be going into his shell thinking about the prospect.

“Mark will probably get first crack at Buddy. It depends a little bit on where Buddy plays. If he’s deep it’s a little different but he could push up into the midfield. We need to be prepared for both. He is a pretty damaging player closer to goal.

“Blicavs is generally the one to take those big match-ups so he’s the most likely.”

In two changes for the Cats, midfielder Scott Selwood and star youngster Jamaine Jones will return at the expense of Jordan Cunico and James Parsons as Geelong looks to return to the winners’ circle.

The eighth-placed Cats have lost their last two games and in their most recent fixture fell to a two-point defeat to the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

They have won eight games and lost six and could slip from the top eight if they lose to the Swans on Thursday.

But Scott said he expected his troops to respond well.

“Our guys have a really strong pattern of fronting up when we don’t perform as well as we would like,” Scott said.

“The players are always involved in the preparations for our games and we’ve got great confidence that when those guys don’t feel we’re playing as well as we’d have liked that they’re the ones who change that.”

Scott anticipates a fierce game of football.

“The Swans tend to play a pretty ballistic style,” Scott said.

“What’s most important will be overall how we play against their system. They’re a big challenge wherever you play them.”