Long shopping list
Ageing midfield adds to dilemma for Cats
Ahead of next week’s AFL draft, Geelong Advertiser chief football writer LACHIE YOUNG takes a look at what Geelong needs and who the Cats might go after DEFENCE
CONSISTENTLY the strongest area of Geelong’s best teams, it was the case again in 2018 despite the extended absence of veteran key defenders Harry Taylor and Lachie Henderson.
But those two won’t be around forever and despite the emergence of Mark Blicavs and Jack Henry as backmen, Ryan Gardner and Timm House have been delisted and Aaron Black, who had slotted in nicely down back, is also gone. Blicavs, Henry, Tom Stewart and Jake Kolodjashnij will form the nucleus of the Geelong defence for the next five years alongside Zach Tuhoy and Jed Bews, but it never hurts to have some additional depth.
A player such as Jacob Koschitzke, who is the cousin of former St Kilda big man Justin and earnt All-Australian honours this year, might be one for the Cats to look at.
MIDFIELD
IT was lauded as one of the classiest midfield groups ever assembled before the season started but what will Geelong’s on-ball brigade look like in three years?
Gary Ablett will be gone, Tim Kelly will almost certainly be playing in Western Australia, Joel Selwood will be 33, his brother Scott will be 31, Patrick Dangerfield will be 31, and Mitch Duncan will be 30.
There are young guys like Lachie Fogarty, Brandan Parfitt, Charlie Constable and Quinton Narkle coming through, and Oscar Brownless will be 21 by then, but acquiring some quality midfielders to help that group would be well advised.
If Bailey Smith slips to pick 12 Geelong will pounce, but if, as expected, he has already been nabbed then someone like Zak Butters could be just what list manager Stephen Wells is looking for. Riley Collier-Dawkins and Vic Metro skipper Xavier O’Halloran could also be ones to keep on the radar.
ATTACK
TOM Hawkins is out of contract at the end of 2020, by which time Geelong hopes Esava Ratugolea will be ready to establish himself as the team’s premier forward.
But he will need support, which is why the Cats have brought in Nathan Krueger and — by this time next week — Next Gen academy player Blake Schlensog should be on the list.
But Wells has always said he will go after the best player available if they are free, so if Ben King somehow dropped in the pecking order he would be taken in a heartbeat. With that option seemingly a 100-1 shot, Geelong might instead go for a small forward who can move into the midfield, so listen out for West Aussie Ian Hill, the cousin of Freo pair Bradley and Stephen, to potentially have his name read out by the Cats.
RUCK
GEELONG has been more inclined to go after established ruckmen in recent years rather than develop its own, so it would be a shift to select a young one in this year’s draft.
But after trying Orren Stephenson, Hamish McIntosh, Rhys Stanley, Zac Smith and Ryan Abbott in the past six years and seeing Nathan Vardy go on to achieve success at West Coast, there is a chance the Cats might go tall late to add some depth to an area on the ground where they are lacking a genuine star.
Bailey Williams is the best available for that, but others might be keen to get him before it has the chance, while Next Gen academy player Blake Schlensog is expected to develop as a forward.