HERE COMES THE SON
Hopes eight new Cats will help ‘win a lot of games of footy’
GEELONG has continued its remarkable post-season list transformation, adding a total of eight players in the past two days during the national and rookie drafts.
After taking West Australian Jordan Clark with their first pick on Thursday, the Cats yesterday secured South Australian trio Ben Jarvis, Jacob Kennerley and Jake Tarca, as well as former Falcons big man Darcy Fort and father-son selection Oscar Brownless.
They also nabbed Next Gen Academy key position player Blake Schlensog and Geelong VFL captain Tom Atkins to go with off-season acquisitions Luke Dahlhaus, Gary Rohan, Nathan Kreuger and Irish rookie Stefan Okunbor.
It means there will be 12 new names at the club for 2019, and takes the total number of new players added to the Geelong list since the end of 2016 to 27.
Geelong list manager Stephen Wells said that while there had been a clear plan to bring in fresh talent to the club during the past three years, he was confident there was a strong enough mix to ensure the Cats would again be competitive next season.
“We have turned over a lot of players in the last few years,” Wells said.
“A big number of players over the last three or four years, and we have certainly got a good variety of players.
“But they can play all over the ground, in different roles, and hopefully at the same time we can remain really competitive and give ourselves a chance to win a lot of games of footy.”
There was a distinct South Australian theme with Gee- long’s drafting yesterday, as Fort, who played locally at South Barwon, has spent the past three years at Central District in the SANFL.
But Wells said there was no strategy to target interstate talent, instead saying each of the players had well and truly earnt their place through hard work and strong performances.
“The fact that we drafted so many South Australians and one West Australian in Jordan Clark with our first pick was purely coincidence,” he said.
“We do love the South Australian football state, it’s a great football state, but the boys that we picked have all performed really well at club level and with their state and they will fit in very well with our club.
“Every one of them has really earnt their opportunity and there is a good variety of players there as well.”
AND THE OSCAR GOES TO ...