Kudos for the Cattery

ONE of the key factors in Geelong’s football success in the past decade has come from its professionalism and stability off the field.

Much has been written about the whole-club transformation that occurred under the reign of Frank Costa and Brian Cook, paving the way for an on-field domination that delivered three premierships in five years. Cook, in particular, as CEO led a clubwide culture overhaul that not only produced the ultimate prize after a 44-year drought, but also produced a profit on the books.

A key player in that overhaul has been Steve Hocking.

The 199-game Cats defender has impressed in his 14-year career as a club administrator, which has included separate stints heading up both the commercial and football operations departments.

His wide-ranging resume has seen him right in the thick of all the operations that have made the club great. He is credited with bringing a professionalism and no-nonsense approach that flowed through the club and appeared to be being groomed as the successor to Cook when he steps down from his role as CEO.

Consequently the announcement yesterday that Hocking had been tapped to fill the key role as AFL football operations manager — the role vacated by Simon Lethlean in July — came as no surprise to anyone at the Cats.

In fact, anyone who has witnessed — even from the outside — the impressive operation that the Geelong Football Club has become would see the advantage in poaching somebody who was part of the business’s evolution from suburban footy club to thriving sporting juggernaut.

Hocking follows in the path of Stuart Fox, who graduated from his job of Cats chief operating officer to become Hawthorn CEO before winning the job of MCC chief last December.

There is no doubt that the recent era at the Cats has bred on-field success.

But as Hocking’s latest appointment shows, the club has also become a breeding ground for some of the national sport’s top administrators.