THE CATS ARE BACK ON THE TRACK
JUST 60 DAYS AFTER PRELIM FINAL LOSS ...
IF Geelong is to stay in the premiership window, young big man Esava Ratugolea understands it will be improvement from his generation of talent that will drive the side.
Most of the second-to-fourth year Cats took their first steps of the preseason yesterday, and, under the watchful gaze of senior players Patrick Dangerfield and Mitch Duncan, it was a large group with plenty to prove.
Ratugolea will spearhead the next wave of Geelong players — such as Brandan Parfitt, Gryan Miers, Quinton Narkle, Jack Henry, Jordan Clark, Mark O’Connor and Charlie Constable — now with senior experience under the belts tasked with keeping the side at the top.
Still only 21, Ratugolea’s potential remains untapped and he said he was ready to see how far he can push his body over the summer months.
“I love getting into this (training), I love building the tank and being around the boys,” he said. “We’re all doing the same thing, as hard as it can be, I love the long-term effect of it.
“It goes quick, this is going into my fourth pre-season, I still feel like a new guy but it is time for (players from) my draft year to step up a little bit more and we’ve got the experience of a fourth pre-season so we need to step up and bring these young blokes with us.
“The draft is coming up and we need to do the same with them, at least until the senior blokes start up again.”
The 197cm big man settled into his role as second tall forward alongside Tom Hawkins and as back up ruckman in 2019 and kicked 15 goals, but has long harboured ambitions to spend more time in the midfield.
While Rhys Stanley is the incumbent starting ruckman, with tall forward Josh Jenkins joining the club, Ratugolea sees a chance to get out of the forward 50 and up the ground.
“I want to cover the ground a little bit more (next) year and play a little bit higher up the ground, particularly with Josh Jenkins coming in,” he said.
“I did do that by the second half of the season last year, so doing that on a more consistent level and crashing packs, but then being able to get back to the goalsquare and be another option up forward as well.
“I’ll be working a lot on my body movements and bodywork and my ruck craft as well, I guess that will be a lot more of a focus this pre-season.
“I like to play as a forward and I like playing as a ruck as well because it gets me in the game more, but I don’t mind.”