STEPHENS GETS THE RIGHT BREAK
GEELONG’S first pick in the draft says he has put the horror of his broken leg behind him and has his sights on playing senior football next year.
Having been selected at pick 16 on Wednesday night, Cooper Stephens is confident he has overcome the injury that sidelined him almost all season after a winter in the gym with Geelong Falcons fitness guru Matt Critchley.
Stephens, who was cocaptain of the Falcons, will officially start training with the Cats on Monday.
He said he would act as a sponge around the Cats’ senior midfielders in an effort to fasttrack his learning.
“I will definitely be nervous (whenever I play my first match) and there will be a lot of anxiety, but I have put in the work and I know my legs are 100 per cent,” Stephens said.
“I haven’t even thought about it for the last couple of months and I am sure there will be lots of match simulation and practice games at training that will help me get over that initial fear of breaking my leg.
“So I don’t think I will be too bad come Round 1. It is definitely a goal to try to get one or two games in the AFL team, but initially I just want to learn off the midfield.
“It is such a good midfield and there is so much knowledge I can soak up.
“I just want to learn as much as possible from those great players and make the most of my opportunity.
“I am just ecstatic and overwhelmed because Geelong is such a great club with such a great culture and they probably have the best midfield in the competition, so it is going to be awesome.”
The hours Stephens spent with Critchley were on show this week when he posed for the Geelong Advertiser, revealing a rippling six-pack thanks to months of hard work in the Falcons’ gym.
While the 18-year-old expected some ribbing from his new teammates for the photo shoot that has since gone viral, He said he had no indication he was going to end up in the blue-and-white hoops.
“It has got a bit of publicity, which I’m not sure is a good thing or a bad thing,” he said.
“I’m sure I’ll hear about it on Monday when I go to the club. They’ll have some ammo in the gun and they’ll be ready to shoot, so it will be quite funny.
“But I actually had no idea (the Cats would pick me) as they didn’t give any indication.
“The only reason I had the (Cats’) polo was because a couple of the development coaches came straight around after the draft, so that was good of them to say hello and welcome me to the club.
“A couple of weeks ago I had one last interview before the draft and they wished me well, so I didn’t have too much contact with them after that.”