Rising defender prepared to go the distance to prove he is fit again

eyeing 2017 as the biggest of his fledgling career after establishing himself in the heart of Geelong’s defence.

It followed a season where he was named Geelong’s best young player at its Carji Greeves Medal awards night.

He averaged 11 touches and almost four marks a game in his 20 appearances in 2016, earning selection and playing well in Geelong’s finals matches against Hawthorn and Sydney.

The key to Kolodjashnij is his versatility with his size enough to play on some of the competition’s bigger forwards.

He is also agile enough to play on smaller, quicker opponents. Last season he spent 26 minutes on former Cat Steve Johnson, the most of any Geelong player, and kept him to one disposal and no goals.

He also held North Melbourne sharp shooter Lindsay Thomas to nine disposals and no goals in 70 minutes of playing time.

A bout of glandular fever followed by groin injuries was enough to set back his pre-season and put him on the back foot for the start of the 2017 season.

The 21-year-old says it was a frustrating summer, but he is now keen on making up for lost time.

“I had the glandular fever when I first got back in pre-season then I had some ongoing groin issues which has held me up for a number of months now,” he said.

“I think I had a pretty good dose of it (glandular fever) because I felt pretty good after the initial six weeks (compared with others). But I had to build back slowly into training, back into the swing of things.

“It didn’t really effect me at all, it’s been more the groin problems.

“I am looking to finally get over all of that. It’s just good to be back playing footy.”

Kolodjashnij finished his VFL his second VFL match — a loss to Port Melbourne — with 16 disposals and three marks. It was a decent output in a game which was still about blowing out the cobwebs.

In a backline featuring plenty of young talent, he is taking a more senior role alongside the likes of Ryan Gardiner, Zach Guthrie and Mark O’Connor.

“I definitely took that (my experience) into consideration when I was coming back in the VFL side,” he said.

“We have a really young side and I guess that bit of voice in the backline and helping direct (the footy) is crucial.”

The Cats suffered a 52-point loss to Port Melbourne last Saturday with the ball spending