’Smoky’ grasps his opportunity

FRANCIS Evans has already lost the “draft smoky” tag in his mind.

The Cats may have shocked the footy world by taking Evans — who only played two NAB League games and eight in the VAFA in 2019 — with pick 41. But for the crafty forward from Brunswick NOBS, that is old news now.

“I’ve personally already forgotten about it. I think, ‘I’m here now, the name doesn’t really matter’,” he said.

“I’ve still got a lot to prove, obviously, but we all have the same opportunity. It doesn’t matter if you’re pick one or last pick.

“I was a pretty late developer physically. I shot up last year and this year. I put on a fair bit of size over the summer.

“And I didn’t really get the opportunity. But it doesn’t worry me. I’m still here. It doesn’t matter how you get there, as long as you get there.”

Unlike many of Geelong’s draftees, Evans said he had an inkling the Cats were going to draft him, but thought it might have been in the rookie draft.

“I kind of had a good idea it was going to happen, but we just weren’t sure when. So I was over the moon to get picked up on the Thursday,” he said.

“I thought I was going to go (as a) rookie on Friday. I was with my family.”

There is only limited footage of Evans for Cats fans to digest, with the forward having his 2019 ended early with a heel injury.

He described himself as a “medium forward with some decent goal sense”.

“Hopefully I can push up into the midfield a bit more to get a bigger body and a better tank,” he said.