Delivering the goods
FOUR games into 2018 and Brandan Parfitt, pictured, has already equalled the six goals he registered from 15 matches last year.
Parfitt doubled his tally from the opening three games in Sunday’s 47point win over St Kilda, bagging three majors to go along with his 28 disposals, six marks, three clearances, seven inside50s and four score assists.
But what the opening month of the season has shown is that the 19-yearold’s impact is far greater than just his scoreboard output.
Parfitt ranks seventh in the competition for score involvements, which Champion Data describes as being a part of any chain of possessions that leads to a goal or behind.
He has had 34 such involvements in four matches, with Tim Kelly, who is equal third in the league with 36, the only teammate to have registered more.
To put those numbers into context, Lance Franklin and Dustin Martin are at the top of the table with 39.
Take nothing away from Kelly, who has been the shining light of Geelong’s season to date — with another mature-age recruit from last season, Tom Stewart, also paying back the Cats’ faith in him in spades down back.
But for all of the West Australian’s brilliance, it speaks to Parfitt’s standing in the team that he is behind only Kelly when it comes to both inside-50s and score assists at Geelong this year as well.
The former Northern Territory junior has delivered the ball into Geelong’s attack 19 times, the same number of times Scott Pendlebury has for Collingwood and Dylan Shiel has for GWS, and is averaging 2.3 score assists (Kelly averages 2.8) — not bad for a second-year player.
Geelong coach Chris Scott believes Parfitt has the potential to join some of his team’s best players and given he is still so young, insiders at the Cats are licking their lips at his development.
“He is becoming really important,” Scott said.
“We had very high hopes for him the moment we drafted him and he was someone that our recruiters were hoping we might get and the only thing that has tempered our enthusiasm was the serious hamstring injury that he had last year.
“He is in that group of eight to 10 players that we have got who are very inexperienced — under 30-odd games and in their first or second year.
“But we’re not playing those guys just because we want to bring some youth into the team and look to the long term, we’re playing them because we think they’re the best options at the moment.
“Brandan is certainly in that category and if he wasn’t our best player last week he was pretty close, and we don’t see any reason why he can’t continue to develop and approach the performances of some our more credentialed players.”
Parfitt’s offensive weapons are many, but his defensive pressure is also highly regarded inside the walls of GMHBA Stadium.
Only Joel Selwood, with 24, has laid more tackles for the Cats this season than the youngster’s 20, which puts him in elite company, and his pace and willingness to chase opponents or run to help out a teammate can often go unnoticed.
The challenge now is for Parfitt to deliver these types of performances consistently for the remainder of the year, and with a huge Saturday night clash against a fellow top-four contender, there is no better stage to back up his first month of football.