SENIOR CONSTABLE
Young Cat steps up with Selwood, Duncan sidelined
RISING Geelong midfielder Charlie Constable has emerged as one of the strongest contenders to fill the void left by injured pair Joel Selwood and Mitch Duncan in the looming pre-season games.
The 20-year-old is poised to step up in the Marsh Community Series after a tough summer of gut-running and increased skills work.
Constable was one of the more intriguing stories of last season, earning a rising star nomination and playing seven of the first nine games before being shunted to the VFL.
Despite consistently racking up big numbers in the reserves, he was unable to make his way back to the AFL side, with questions surrounding his capacity to run as hard both ways as he should.
But after a solid pre-season in which he has increased his fitness, Constable is wellplaced to push for more senior football this year.
Midfield coach Matthew Knights said Constable deserved credit for heeding the message that he had to improve in certain areas of his game.
“He has been extremely coachable with all of those elements in pre-season,” Knights said. “If you watch him train closely, he is endeavouring to get better in those areas like two-way running. He is a big mid and once a lot of the good big mids around the league get the ball, their disposal is outstanding and really efficient, which is something he has been working on. It is probably already a strength of his, but he wants to take that further.”
“So there are two or three parts of the game that Charlie is really going after and working on in pre-season,” Knights said.
“But like most things, it won’t be until game time when you are tested against AFL opposition that we will see that come to fruition.
“But he is doing everything he can and all signs are looking pretty good at the moment.”
The ongoing injury issues surrounding several Geelong players, including Selwood (hamstring), Duncan (hip and shoulder), Tom Stewart (groin), Jordan Clark (elbow), Mark O’Connor (toe) and Jake Kolodjashnij (hip) means senior playing opportunities will open up in Marsh Community Series matches against Gold Coast and Essendon.
Knights said outside of Constable, players including
James Parsons and Zach Guthrie had shown positive signs that they were both ready to take the next step this year.
“Charlie Constable is one who had a taste of AFL last year and is demonstrating with his midfield work that he is really keen to try to earn a spot and break into that midfield group, but James Parsons and Zach Guthrie both fit into that category, too,” he said.
“They have done a lot of midfield work this pre-season so far and I think their first couple of weeks post-Christmas have been outstanding.
“The way they are attacking the ball but also picking up the ball and running with it and breaking lines has been great, so those guys are really demonstrating some good training habits and are keen to nail a spot in that 22.
“Mitch and Joel played virtually 100 per cent of the time in the midfield last season and if you add Tim Kelly to that, that’s three players who won’t be there in the early part of the year (for the pre-season matches).
“Young players are smart and they can see there will be opportunities, and even though they are lead-up games they are vitally important because coaches and their peers are looking at what they can do.”