Training 2024 Pre-Season discussion

[Goggin Our Best]

No, I'm much more circumspect than him. I believe his Dad has already taken odds on him winning the Brownlow and the Coleman in the same year before his career is over.

Didnt Rory Mcilroy father win a huge sum of money , was it 100 thousand pound or 300,000 pound , whatever it was , it was alot , he placed a winning bet at massive odds that Rory would win a Major before he turned 21- so Rorys father has got your type of confidence in Ollie - hah

 

[Oisin_the_Goat]

No, I'm much more circumspect than him. I believe his Dad has already taken odds on him winning the Brownlow and the Coleman in the same year before his career is over.

Can see where you're coming from though, when he had is debut with all his basketball mates, you can see he was different and a great positive character.

 

[thejester]

Didnt Rory Mcilroy father win a huge sum of money , was it 100 thousand pound or 300,000 pound , whatever it was , it was alot , he placed a winning bet at massive odds that Rory would win a Major before he turned 21- so Rorys father has got your type of confidence in Ollie - hah

There was some guy who put a bet on the day his grandson was born that he’d play rugby for Wales - and got to collect 19 years later.

EDIT: I looked it up and it’s grown in the telling: Harry Wilson’s grandad put a bet on when he was 18 months old that he’d play football for Wales, then collected when Wilson debuted as Wales’ youngest senior player at age 16.

 

[Footy Smarts]

100kg?

Come on mate. No talking about player weights remember?

 

[Baudolino]

Funny Cowan's name has come up. I was watching the 2016 qualifying final on Foxtel. I remember at the time not thinking we were good enough to win it but just wanted to beat Hawthorn.

Watching the game....we were even worse than I thought. I liked Cowan but he was ordinary. Ruggles, who I didn't mind, was terrible. Still some quality names in the team but Bartel was past it. The only ones keeping us in it were Danger and Selwood.

A microcosm of that entire season tbh. They were ridiculously good across 2016-17, even by their own insanely high standards. Just a shame the rest of the team weren't at the level required to take advantage of their brilliance.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

No, I'm much more circumspect than him. I believe his Dad has already taken odds on him winning the Brownlow and the Coleman in the same year before his career is over.

I absolutely love his Dads youtube channel from his draft year

 

[Cataholic]

Come on mate. No talking about player weights remember?

That's right. It's not on.

I mean, imagine if boxers and weightlifters were categorised by their wei .....oh, wait

 

[goyoucatters]

Hahaha i feel like your in geelong in some sort of club circle. I like the odds of him winning the brownlow better than having a highlights reel as good as Jeremy's.

I'm certainly not in any sort of circle at the club. As those around here who see me as clueless would comfortably attest.

And I did not say he would end his career with a highlights reel that was as good as Jezza's. Merely noted that, given a longish career in the AFL, he'll have more notable highlights than Cam Guthrie, Jack Henry, Rhys Stanley and Gary Rohan. And I absolutely stand by that.

 

[FredLeDeux]

I'm certainly not in any sort of circle at the club. As those around here who see me as clueless would comfortably attest.

And I did not say he would end his career with a highlights reel that was as good as Jezza's. Merely noted that, given a longish career in the AFL, he'll have more notable highlights than Cam Guthrie, Jack Henry, Rhys Stanley and Gary Rohan. And I absolutely stand by that.

Meanwhile, when he does get another run, then compared with his first go, he needs less flash and more football.

 

[Mr Meow]

Meanwhile, when he does get another run, then compared with his first go, he needs less flash and more football.

He needs to embrace everything that made him a star at VFL level. That doesn't mean becoming joyless.

 

[goyoucatters]

Meanwhile, when he does get another run, then compared with his first go, he needs less flash and more football.

He needs to be more involved, for sure. And he also needs to have his teammates begin to see his value and look to include him in more passages of play. In the end, then, I guess we can simply agree that he needs more exposure at the highest level and we'll see how it rolls from there.

 

[terry_bright]

Meanwhile, when he does get another run, then compared with his first go, he needs less flash and more football.

What he needs to do is adjust to the speed & physicality at AFL level. If he can do that everything else should fall into place.
Why stifle what is probably his greatest strength and that’s the X factor he can bring to the team?

 

[bulletproof]

I thought Dempsey was unfairly subbed off in the loss versus Richmond. He looked quite lively across half forward. A bit like Neale, he looked very nervous in front of goal, despite being a reliable shot at lower level. I don’t think that is a problem that will persist with either of them.

I hope he gets his shot in round 1 through very good form in the upcoming practice games.

I am a believer.

 

[Phipppppa]

Dempsey is gonna be good.

Harsh to write him off this early

 

[you pick one]

Rohan is exactly the sort of guy who might be in our best team come finals but shouldn't be played every week because we need to blood young players.

Rohan performs best in short blocks 14 or 16 games in 3 and 4 game blocks in the H@A season would have him in prime form late in the year if required.

 

[you pick one]

For X factor I’d have him in the top 5, but skills I’m not so sure.
Ronnie Burns had huge X factor but my god he is probably the least skilled footballer on his non preferred side I think I’ve seen. Don’t know if you’ve seen the footage of him on the Footy show handball comp using his right hand but it’s down right embarrassing.

geelong ronnie burns high highlights youtube - Google Search

 

[michelzing]

I fall into the camp of being quite bullish on Dempsey (continuing our long line of success with rookies and /or late picks

I do believe we have drafted well in the last 2/3 years - better than our previous 10 years when looking at First/Second round picks

Our 2022 Premiership side was made up of:

1. 11 players that were either rookies (of some sort) and/or taken 40 and beyond in the draft
2. 6 players that come from other clubs (Cameron and Danger were stars)
3. 3 players taken in the 1st round (counting Hawk as a 1st rounder with Selwood & SDK- only SDK was drafted in last 10 years)
4. 3 players taken early second round (Duncan, Cam Guthrie and Parfitt - Parfit taken in the last 10 years)

In the last 10 years we have either used first rounders or future first rounders for trading in (Danger, Cameron, Tuohy and Henderson & Bruhn)
Or we have picked players that didn't work out - Cockatoo (injuries), Lang, Smedts, Fogarty & Cooper stevens (not sure where Caddy fits)
I believe that only SDK, Clake and Conner O'Sullivan remain on the list of first round selections in the last 10 years (I think Holmes was an early second rounder

However in recent years our early draft picks have been, Clarke, Knevitt, Conway, Willis, Sullivan, Mannagh, Edwards - While Edwards will take some time - the only real question mark in that lot is Willis

Our more speculative picks have been Dempsey, Foster, clohesy, Murdoch, Mullin, Riccardi & this years Wiltshire, Stevens, Furphy and Jekka

Of those, Dempsey, Mullin & Clohesy have already played and Stevens clearly will at some point along with Jekka - I believe they will all play a lot of footy for Geelong - (Clohesy may struggle and Jekka will more than likely be a depth player and fill holes like Ratugolea).

Whilst Riccardi has been delisted the only real wait is on Murdoch, Foster, Furphy and Wiltshire (and Willis - mentioned earlier)

I think we have more than likely drafted half our best 23 side for the next 10 years in the last 3 years - Which probably allows the recruitment team to target and trade for established stars and Free agents for specific spots again

I look forward to the coming years - Go Catters

 

[BORIS332]

I fall into the camp of being quite bullish on Dempsey (continuing our long line of success with rookies and /or late picks

I do believe we have drafted well in the last 2/3 years - better than our previous 10 years when looking at First/Second round picks

Our 2022 Premiership side was made up of:

1. 11 players that were either rookies (of some sort) and/or taken 40 and beyond in the draft
2. 6 players that come from other clubs (Cameron and Danger were stars)
3. 3 players taken in the 1st round (counting Hawk as a 1st rounder with Selwood & SDK- only SDK was drafted in last 10 years)
4. 3 players taken early second round (Duncan, Cam Guthrie and Parfitt - Parfit taken in the last 10 years)

In the last 10 years we have either used first rounders or future first rounders for trading in (Danger, Cameron, Tuohy and Henderson & Bruhn)
Or we have picked players that didn't work out - Cockatoo (injuries), Lang, Smedts, Fogarty & Cooper stevens (not sure where Caddy fits)
I believe that only SDK, Clake and Conner O'Sullivan remain on the list of first round selections in the last 10 years (I think Holmes was an early second rounder

However in recent years our early draft picks have been, Clarke, Knevitt, Conway, Willis, Sullivan, Mannagh, Edwards - While Edwards will take some time - the only real question mark in that lot is Willis

Our more speculative picks have been Dempsey, Foster, clohesy, Murdoch, Mullin, Riccardi & this years Wiltshire, Stevens, Furphy and Jekka

Of those, Dempsey, Mullin & Clohesy have already played and Stevens clearly will at some point along with Jekka - I believe they will all play a lot of footy for Geelong - (Clohesy may struggle and Jekka will more than likely be a depth player and fill holes like Ratugolea).

Whilst Riccardi has been delisted the only real wait is on Murdoch, Foster, Furphy and Wiltshire (and Willis - mentioned earlier)

I think we have more than likely drafted half our best 23 side for the next 10 years in the last 3 years - Which probably allows the recruitment team to target and trade for established stars and Free agents for specific spots again

I look forward to the coming years - Go Catters

I understand the 'feeling' that we've drafted better recently, but the numbers suggest otherwise. I know a lot of our young guys look promising, but the bulk of that has been in the VFL. We haven't had many youngsters show much at AFL level, especially in comparison to the rest of the competition.

From the 2019 draft to today, we've had the second fewest games from our draftees (ND only).



The players we've drafted in those years are:

 

[Mr Meow]

I fall into the camp of being quite bullish on Dempsey (continuing our long line of success with rookies and /or late picks

I do believe we have drafted well in the last 2/3 years - better than our previous 10 years when looking at First/Second round picks

Our 2022 Premiership side was made up of:

1. 11 players that were either rookies (of some sort) and/or taken 40 and beyond in the draft
2. 6 players that come from other clubs (Cameron and Danger were stars)
3. 3 players taken in the 1st round (counting Hawk as a 1st rounder with Selwood & SDK- only SDK was drafted in last 10 years)
4. 3 players taken early second round (Duncan, Cam Guthrie and Parfitt - Parfit taken in the last 10 years)

In the last 10 years we have either used first rounders or future first rounders for trading in (Danger, Cameron, Tuohy and Henderson & Bruhn)
Or we have picked players that didn't work out - Cockatoo (injuries), Lang, Smedts, Fogarty & Cooper stevens (not sure where Caddy fits)
I believe that only SDK, Clake and Conner O'Sullivan remain on the list of first round selections in the last 10 years (I think Holmes was an early second rounder

However in recent years our early draft picks have been, Clarke, Knevitt, Conway, Willis, Sullivan, Mannagh, Edwards - While Edwards will take some time - the only real question mark in that lot is Willis

Our more speculative picks have been Dempsey, Foster, clohesy, Murdoch, Mullin, Riccardi & this years Wiltshire, Stevens, Furphy and Jekka

Of those, Dempsey, Mullin & Clohesy have already played and Stevens clearly will at some point along with Jekka - I believe they will all play a lot of footy for Geelong - (Clohesy may struggle and Jekka will more than likely be a depth player and fill holes like Ratugolea).

Whilst Riccardi has been delisted the only real wait is on Murdoch, Foster, Furphy and Wiltshire (and Willis - mentioned earlier)

I think we have more than likely drafted half our best 23 side for the next 10 years in the last 3 years - Which probably allows the recruitment team to target and trade for established stars and Free agents for specific spots again

I look forward to the coming years - Go Catters

Spot on.

While we need to keep adding kids there is something to work with in the 24 and under group. As 3 veterans or so start to retire a year for 2024/2025/2026 (including some absolute stars) we need to target our weakness for depth and that will be in the 25-30 year old range. A high class midfielder, forward and running defender wouldn't be bad (not asking for much).

 

[BORIS332]

AFL 2024: Geelong draftee George Stevens reflects on his first pre-season as Gryan Miers

32

Gryan Miers

Age

25

Ht

179cm

Wt

81kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

15.4

4star

K

9.1

4star

HB

6.3

4star

M

4.1

4star

T

1.8

4star

G

1.1

4star

D

15.3

4star

K

9.0

4star

HB

6.3

4star

M

4.6

4star

T

1.6

3star

G

0.9

4star

D

14.4

4star

K

8.4

4star

HB

6.0

4star

M

3.8

4star

T

2.2

4star

G

1.2

4star

sings his praises

George Stevens was left waiting on draft night as clubs overlooked him. But his teammate’s glowing praise highlights how far he has come in the past year.

When George Stevens was last out at Reid Oval, he had achieved the ultimate with his local club South Warrnambool.

Five months after that senior premiership win with the Roosters, he was back on familiar terrain as an AFL footballer as part of Geelong’s community camp.

Stevens remembers visits from Cats players to his primary and on Wednesday he was the one making young footy fans smile when he returned to St Joseph’s Primary School.

Having also trained with the Cats last pre-season through the AFL Academy, the hardened 18-year-old is still pinching himself about how far he has come.

Match simulations are now spent clashing with and soaking up knowledge from Brownlow medallist Patrick Dangerfield and dual best-and-fairest Cameron Guthrie

29

Cameron Guthrie

Age

32

Ht

187cm

Wt

87kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

17.7

4star

K

8.2

3star

HB

9.5

5star

M

3.1

3star

T

3.9

5star

CL

2.3

4star

D

18.7

4star

K

9.7

4star

HB

9.0

4star

M

4.6

4star

T

3.6

4star

CL

3.3

4star

D

11.0

3star

K

5.0

2star

HB

6.0

4star

M

1.2

2star

T

4.0

5star

CL

0.4

3star

.

“It’s a bit of a full circle moment. The boys were kind of getting stuck into me a little bit during the week how I was just a young lad coming for a kick last year and now I’m here,” Stevens said with a smile.

“It’s much cooler coming here with gear in the bag and my own number rather than just chucking on a jersey and being here for the half an hour and that’s it. It’s good to be back.

“It’s been really good, it has probably ramped up over the last few weeks with match sim scenario based training so it’s been really good to not only go up against them but to learn from them as well in that match sim, take bits and pieces from there game.

“I think the development in my own game in the last three months just from being able to learn off them doing that. In match sim scenarios has been really helpful and really beneficial.”

Despite a dominant draft year for Vic Country and GWV Rebels – which included two games for Geelong’s VFL side – Stevens was forced to wait until pick 58 to hear his name called.

Coming off an ACL rupture in his bottom-age year, Stevens proved he could find the footy for fun, but recruiters had concerns over his speed off the mark.

It would be easy for a teenager to be down in the dumps with this criticism, but Stevens is no ordinary teenager.

He got to work on increasing his acceleration – all while taking a two-hour bus ride to Rebels training in Ballarat each week – which resulted in an improved 20m sprint time at the AFL Draft combine.

Stevens has continued to work on his game to adjust to the extra speed at the next level.

He maintains are no ill feelings towards the clubs that overlooked him, only a burning desire to repay the faith that Geelong showed.

“For me, as soon as I walked into the club that draft pick as such hasn’t really meant anything at all. You come in and everyone’s at the same level so there’s certainly no reason to be proving anyone wrong,” Stevens said.

“If anything I’m just really grateful that Geelong’s given me the opportunity and I’ll repay them back as best as possible by just putting my best foot forward with training and looking to develop myself as a player.

“It’s certainly been a challenge, it’d be wrong to say it hasn’t been a step up. I think everyone just gets a bit quicker and that’s what we’ve spoken about, we’re so lucky that I was drafted with six other guys so we chat a lot and things like that and bounce ideas off each other, and that’s been the biggest thing.

“Sort of getting used to that speed that comes with a step up in level so we’re working really close with our development coaches in Nigel Lappin and (Mark) Corrigan and those type of guys, really developing our games that allow us to perform with the extra speed and the bigger bodies and things like that.”

Cats linkman Gryan Miers

32

Gryan Miers

Age

25

Ht

179cm

Wt

81kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

15.4

4star

K

9.1

4star

HB

6.3

4star

M

4.1

4star

T

1.8

4star

G

1.1

4star

D

15.3

4star

K

9.0

4star

HB

6.3

4star

M

4.6

4star

T

1.6

3star

G

0.9

4star

D

14.4

4star

K

8.4

4star

HB

6.0

4star

M

3.8

4star

T

2.2

4star

G

1.2

4star

was jumping for joy when Stevens was still there late in the piece.

A legendary soccer player in the eyes of some, Miers added AFL recruiting to his resume by spending more time alongside the likes of Stephen Wells and Andrew Mackie

Andrew Mackie

Age

40

Ht

193cm

Wt

82kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

19.2

5star

K

12.6

5star

HB

6.6

4star

M

5.7

5star

T

2.1

4star

MG

346.7

5star

No current season stats available

D

9.0

3star

K

6.2

3star

HB

2.8

3star

M

2.6

3star

T

2.2

4star

last season.

Miers liked what he saw from the 189cm midfielder then and has been impressed by what he has produced during the pre-season, putting him on the radar as a potential round one smokey.

“I did watch George a bit in the VFL last year… I was all for getting him on our list so I was stoked when he did slide in the draft and we got him with our pick,” Miers said.

“I did spend a day at the combine with the club and I was dropping his name there as someone to look out for because I liked him so I was stoked that we got him and he has been extremely impressive ever since.”

“He has been someone who has come in and you would not be surprised if he is there round one.”

Stevens was reluctant to buy into any talk of a round one start, but hoping to lock horns against his close friend from Warrnambool, Essendon draftee Luamon Lual, in their Community Series pre-season hitout on March 1.

“Hopefully that first praccy in a couple of weeks we can line up and hopefully get the chockies in the first praccy and I’m one up on him early,” Stevens said with a laugh.

 

[numbwombat]

I fall into the camp of being quite bullish on Dempsey (continuing our long line of success with rookies and /or late picks

I do believe we have drafted well in the last 2/3 years - better than our previous 10 years when looking at First/Second round picks

Our 2022 Premiership side was made up of:

1. 11 players that were either rookies (of some sort) and/or taken 40 and beyond in the draft
2. 6 players that come from other clubs (Cameron and Danger were stars)
3. 3 players taken in the 1st round (counting Hawk as a 1st rounder with Selwood & SDK- only SDK was drafted in last 10 years)
4. 3 players taken early second round (Duncan, Cam Guthrie and Parfitt - Parfit taken in the last 10 years)

In the last 10 years we have either used first rounders or future first rounders for trading in (Danger, Cameron, Tuohy and Henderson & Bruhn)
Or we have picked players that didn't work out - Cockatoo (injuries), Lang, Smedts, Fogarty & Cooper stevens (not sure where Caddy fits)
I believe that only SDK, Clake and Conner O'Sullivan remain on the list of first round selections in the last 10 years (I think Holmes was an early second rounder

However in recent years our early draft picks have been, Clarke, Knevitt, Conway, Willis, Sullivan, Mannagh, Edwards - While Edwards will take some time - the only real question mark in that lot is Willis

Our more speculative picks have been Dempsey, Foster, clohesy, Murdoch, Mullin, Riccardi & this years Wiltshire, Stevens, Furphy and Jekka

Of those, Dempsey, Mullin & Clohesy have already played and Stevens clearly will at some point along with Jekka - I believe they will all play a lot of footy for Geelong - (Clohesy may struggle and Jekka will more than likely be a depth player and fill holes like Ratugolea).

Whilst Riccardi has been delisted the only real wait is on Murdoch, Foster, Furphy and Wiltshire (and Willis - mentioned earlier)

I think we have more than likely drafted half our best 23 side for the next 10 years in the last 3 years - Which probably allows the recruitment team to target and trade for established stars and Free agents for specific spots again

I look forward to the coming years - Go Catters

Cam Guthrie and Holmes were both first round, not second round.

 

[michelzing]

Cam Guthrie and Holmes were both first round, not second round.

Max Holmes and Cam Guthrie taken at picks 20 and 23 in an 18 team competition - I know they have been called 1st rounders - but to me that looks like a 2nd round pick
For purposes of analysis I have called picks 1-18 are first rounders and picks 19-36 are 2nd rounders etc

 

[numbwombat]

Max Holmes and Cam Guthrie taken at picks 20 and 23 in an 18 team competition - I know they have been called 1st rounders - but to me that looks like a 2nd round pick
For purposes of analysis I have called picks 1-18 are first rounders and picks 19-36 are 2nd rounders etc

For the purposes of assessing our recruitment, the fact that these successes were our natural non-traded pick in the first round (i.e. the earliest available selection by standard draft rules) is probably more relevant than what number they happened to be.

You’ve also excluded Tim Kelly, one of the better 2nd-round picks of the past decade.

 

[numbwombat]

Tommy Stewart also second round now I think about it.

 

[Lana]

I understand the 'feeling' that we've drafted better recently, but the numbers suggest otherwise. I know a lot of our young guys look promising, but the bulk of that has been in the VFL. We haven't had many youngsters show much at AFL level, especially in comparison to the rest of the competition.

From the 2019 draft to today, we've had the second fewest games from our draftees (ND only).

View attachment 1906495

The players we've drafted in those years are:

View attachment 1906499

There is a lot of skewness in these types of comparisons, clubs can bringing in 5 to 10 more kids onto there list in the same time period, pump a bunch of early games into them and only gain an extra long term player from the group.