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Max Rooke Appreciation Society
- Oct 9, 2010
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- #626
Back after preseason break & Matty Egan gives us a player development update with the Cameron Ling Academy covering the 1 to 4 year players.
Directly below are Matty Egan's comments regards Ollie Dempsey, Mitch Knevitt & Shannon Neale..... BOLDED RED are my liked comments
OLLIE DEMPSEY: He’s come back in really good shape & one of our probably top 5 runners at the moment, so he’s worked really hard on his running ability over the break. He’s played most of his footy half forward but we’re trying to put him up on the wing a little bit more & let him use his weapon which is getting right up the ground & trying to beat his opponent both ways, he’s 'really good aerial player', so if you watched a few of the sessions lately, he’s taken some really good marks (apparently out-marking Tom Stewart as well), 'using his agility, flashiness & flair' which has been great for him. So he’s developing his body, I think he’s put on 6 kilos in one year.
MITCH KNEVITT: Very similar to Ollie, he played every game pretty much in VFL (with one game in AFL), 'we’ve got to drag him off the track all the time. He’s always looking to do extras, really diligent worker'. Similar to Ollie has played in a couple of positions, so we started off more inside but now he’s progressing cause he’s such a good runner & he’s improved over the pre-season. He’s getting some wing exposure as well & in second half of year played a fair bit on the wing as well. He’s another player getting some good opportunities at the moment, he’s running, he’s going really well again, like Ollie, he’s probably in our top five runners at moment, so it’s progressing really well.
SHANNON NEALE: Yeah, big Scratch’s got a great opportunity at the moment with Tom Hawkins just working through his rehab. You know he’s getting some experience with Jeremy Cameron & Gary Rohan & the bigger guys down there at being the main target along with our big fellas. He came back from pre-season in ripping shape & is into his third year now he’s sort of free to go as he’s getting a lot of training in, 'he’s an amazing athlete' with real ability to play tall & has developed 'so he’s strong enough to play on anyone' but he can also get right up the ground & play sort of a hybrid tall as well. It’s an exciting place he’s in, his marking looking really strong & he dominated some games of VFL this year, so he’d be looking to progress as best he can this year & he’s in a really good place at the moment.
So much to be enthused about Cats in 2023 & beyond –
Been huge fan of Ollie Dempsey & Shannon Neale for some time, so Matty Eagan’s above comments are most encouraging & with the likes of Mitch Knevitt, Tanner Bruhn, Ollie Henry, Jhye Clark, Oscar Murdoch, Jack Bowes, Toby Conway, Cooper Whyte, James Willis, Flynn Kroeger & Irishman Oisin Mullen all promising youngsters being brought into the club in recent times along with Sam Menegola, Sam Simpson, Sav Ratugolea & Jonathon Cegla as genuine mature aged back-ups, the Cats future is looking very promising to say the very least from 2023 & beyond.
PS - Given that Tomahawk may miss early games (1 to 4 or 5) & judging by Matty Egan's comments in above interview, Shannon Neale is likely to have first crack at taking-up Tomahawks position which 'excites me' no end. GO CATTERS !!!
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Firm… very firm…
Go Catters