2025 Pre-Season chat

[Lana]

To the surprise of not many, Martin in the #19.

Geelong Unveils Jack Martin's Guernsey Number

The Geelong Cats have announced their final guernsey number for the 2025 AFL season

www.geelongcats.com.au

Sorry George we won't need you this year to pass on a jumper

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Sorry George we won't need you this year to pass on a jumper

Hopefully Martin does better in it than Mitch Clark did.

 

[Farmer2Goggin]

Have watched like 5 times

I have a problem

I’m the same CatToTheFuture - and I’m in my late 60’s
Clearly need therapy or another Flag.
I’ve been on Shannon since day one- with his skills , athleticism and love of the game he could be anything…..

 

[small 4wards]

I think Jack Martin's a great recruit for culture/club standards as much as how good he is when fit. Without Hawkins and Rohan, it leaves our forward line with Jezza and then Close and Miers as our most experienced players so I can see him slotting well in there. I don't want to labour the point too much but I think similarly experienced players like Dahlhouse and Higgins were really good for the development of players like Close and Miers, both of the former played with a great teamfirst mentality I reckon has really bled off into the latter. Also with 19 being right next to Stengle as 18, I wonder if there's potential/planning for him as an off-field mentor in that regard.

 

[Gavin Excell]

Smith in the 3 is nice.

No disrespect to keighton but if we could stop giving 31 to the latest of late picks that would be great. The great man should have someone have a long career in his jumper. Ironically enough my wife surprised me with a signed print of the great man today so that's nice.

Separately pleased to see we have retired #26 for a bit I think that's the right call.

Hard for anyone to step into 31 given the long shadow cast by D Mensch

 

[Turbocat]

Burke is 185cm or 6’1”

I wonder if he has grown ..he seems similar in height to Keighton Matofai-Forbes. who is 188 or 189

 

[gogeelongcats]

We don't receive early draft picks due to our consistent top-of-the-ladder performances and other challenges that are placed by the AFL on our club. However, our excellent recruiting and strong club culture create an environment of continuous improvement.

What a fantastic club!

 

[My Tilly]

All the talk is Thilthorpe ready to dominate for Adelaide but Neale is tracking along in the same direction for little to no media adulation.

At 203cm tall, once he knows he can monster anyone, the skies the limit.

 

[TheMenz Gallery]

I wonder if he has grown ..he seems similar in height to Keighton Matofai-Forbes. who is 188 or 189

I wonder where Zouz Kitty got her information from ( I’m not doubting it, just curious) because after a quick google search I couldn’t find a definitive height for him. However, I did find a height for a 31 yrs old Irish Hurler with the same name who is 6’1”

Killian Burke - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

I did find the below on Kerry’s version of bigfooty discussing his height at about 6’3”

Kerry v Armagh - 13 July 2024 All-Ireland semi-final | Kerry GAA Forum - Unofficial

Right. Best to move on from that quarter final. Hopefully a clean bill of health in the squad and we can get through to the final. I had a quick look at Armagh's team V Roscommon and they are a bit

kerrygaa.proboards.com

 

[CatToTheFuture]

All the talk is Thilthorpe ready to dominate for Adelaide but Neale is tracking along in the same direction for little to no media adulation.

At 203cm tall, once he knows he can monster anyone, the skies the limit.

Social media is in love with Neale. I think there's a fair bit of hype there

 

[Gunf]

All the talk is Thilthorpe ready to dominate for Adelaide but Neale is tracking along in the same direction for little to no media adulation.

At 203cm tall, once he knows he can monster anyone, the skies the limit.

One is a pick in the second round and plays for Geelong the other is a top 5 pick and doesn't play for Geelong

 

[CHAWKTS]

Trackwatcher today focus was on the 2km time trial. Something that hasn’t been part of the Cats pre season routine for a long time. They have the “shuffle” last week (won by Dempsey with Knevitt Bowes and Miers not far behind) and they used to have a 15m run (where you go as far as you can) that Blitz has owned for a long time!

Today Patrick Retschko lived up the the “draft athletics hype” (he was said to choose footy over USA running scholarship - plus we won the draft combine 2km) by coming in first…ahead of Miers and then Dempsey with Blitz missing the podium (not bad for an old man though!). Knevitt and Bowes also ran well

 

[Ricky Vaughn]

IF there was an 84 point turnaround in the QF, and then Geelong lost to the team who lost to the team Geelong beat by 84 points in the SF, THEN Geelong would have straight setted.

That's a ripper.

I was most annoyed by his “high floor, low ceiling” error. That’s one of the most basic analogies.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Trackwatcher today focus was on the 2km time trial. Something that hasn’t been part of the Cats pre season routine for a long time. They have the “shuffle” last week (won by Dempsey with Knevitt Bowes and Miers not far behind) and they used to have a 15m run (where you go as far as you can) that Blitz has owned for a long time!

Today Patrick Retschko lived up the the “draft athletics hype” (he was said to choose footy over USA running scholarship - plus we won the draft combine 2km) by coming in first…ahead of Miers and then Dempsey with Blitz missing the podium (not bad for an old man though!). Knevitt and Bowes also ran well

I knew knevitt would run well (and hopefully his versatility gets him games) but I am glad to see Bowes improving. Big year for him career wise.

 

[iameviljez]

All the talk is Thilthorpe ready to dominate for Adelaide but Neale is tracking along in the same direction for little to no media adulation.

At 203cm tall, once he knows he can monster anyone, the skies the limit.

No, Thilthorpe is clearly well ahead of Neale at this stage. He's played fifty games, has two bags of five, and managed 2 goals/game last year. His last game of the year in a losing side was particularly impressive.

Don't get me wrong, I like Neale, but he's a lot more raw.

 

[ShadowCat]

If all can perform to/exceed expectations, I would love to see us roll this out come Round 1 (further ruck development for SDK as a permanent position, given Conway's sketchy outlook at this point):

B: Z. Guthrie, C. O'Sullivan, J. Henry
HB: T. Stewart, Kolo, L. Humphries
C: Dempsey, Danger, Miers
FO: SDK, B. Smith, Holmes
HF: O. Henry, J. Cameron, J. Martin
F: Close, S. Neale, Stengle
INT: Blics, Bruhn, Mannagh, Knevitt
Sub: C. Guthrie

EMG: Conway, Bowes, T. Atkins, Mullin

Bews, Stanley, Duncan (once he's hit 300), O'Connor, all relegated to depth options. Clohesy and Clark next in line, if they have a good pre-season. That's my ideal lead in to Round 0 - if all the stars align. Next gen starts now.

 

[cats_09]

Think we missed a trick by not including #3

 

[Tony Barber]

Think we missed a trick by not including #3

Bonts headband is way better.
Maybe Pat Cash can do a merch deal.
But then again, I'm pretty sure he's a hawks supporter.

 

[winty]

Just saw the fixture for the Community Series next year. Anyone know when the last time we DIDN'T play Essendon in the pre-season was?

 

[Warhorse]

Can't wait for the melts when Smith turns into a dominant midfielder

 

[geelong_crazy26]

Can't wait for the melts when Smith turns into a dominant midfielder

I would go as far to say he could easily become the best mid in the game, especially if we allow him to be an inside mid who is given license to burst fron stoppages and use his power to full potential compared to the doggies who purely had him on the outside due to libba and bont.

 

[cats_09]

Just saw the fixture for the Community Series next year. Anyone know when the last time we DIDN'T play Essendon in the pre-season was?

View attachment 2185317

2015 - we played Gold Coast, Adelaide & Carlton

2015 NAB Challenge - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[nohairandfair]

I think Jack Martin's a great recruit for culture/club standards as much as how good he is when fit. Without Hawkins and Rohan, it leaves our forward line with Jezza and then Close and Miers as our most experienced players so I can see him slotting well in there. I don't want to labour the point too much but I think similarly experienced players like Dahlhouse and Higgins were really good for the development of players like Close and Miers, both of the former played with a great teamfirst mentality I reckon has really bled off into the latter. Also with 19 being right next to Stengle as 18, I wonder if there's potential/planning for him as an off-field mentor in that regard.

Higgins had real problems following teams rules/instructions both at the Kangaroos and then at the Cattery... not exactly a pin up boy for team-first ethos.

 

[Mattttty]

No, Thilthorpe is clearly well ahead of Neale at this stage. He's played fifty games, has two bags of five, and managed 2 goals/game last year. His last game of the year in a losing side was particularly impressive.

Don't get me wrong, I like Neale, but he's a lot more raw.

Yeah, I agree Neale will be great and Thilthorpe is ahead. The other reason commentators couldn't stop talking about Thilthorpe of course, is because he paired bulking up with a new wild-man vibe - beard and all - the combination of which seemed to make it feel like he'd had some kind of overnight incredible hulk-type transformation. The before and after comparison is striking and noteworthy.

 

[iameviljez]

Yeah, I agree Neale will be great and Thilthorpe is a little ahead. The other reason commentators couldn't stop talking about Thilthorpe of course, is because he paired bulking up with a new wild-man vibe - beard and all - the combination of which seemed to make it feel like he'd had some kind of overnight incredible hulk-type transformation. The before and after comparison is striking and noteworthy.

Thilthorpe is more than a little ahead.

Which you would expect for a no 2 pick