The Cats sadly missed out on the eight with a poor ending to the season.
Their demise included a disappointing draw to St. Kilda, which capped off what was a season to forget and the end of an era.
Fortunately for Cats fans, we can now look at season 2016 and what they will be needing to get back into the eight and be competing for finals once again – and they should be getting excited.
We will start with who they have lost and it’s a lengthy list, with some premiership players in the mix. Playmaker Steve Johnson, James Kelly, the delisted Mathew Stokes, Sam Blease, Brad Hartman, Hamish McIntosh, Jared Rivers and James Toohey, who will all not be returning back to the club in 2016.
Who have they signed as replacements?
We all know the Patrick Dangerfield is the main talking point of the trade period and the Cats sit in an awkward position with Lachie Henderson also “worth a first round pick” according to his manager Tom Petroro.
With a shallow draft ahead in 2015, the Cats appear to not be heavily involved. Although they currently hold pick 9, they look set to lose that to Adelaide in the Dangerfield trade following the Crows’ apparent preparedness to match any free agency offer. But it is known that at a minimum the Cats will have to be giving up pick 9 and 24. That leaves them with probably using their future first round draft pick to secure the Lachie Henderson trade.
Jordan Murdoch, George Horlin-Smith and Cory Gregson have also been linked with the Dangerfield trade.
There are more players that want to go to the cats with Zac Smith and Scott Selwood each requesting trades to Geelong. But to arrive at the Cats you wonder what picks they have left to trade.
Although Selwood looks settled to join the Cats – and his brother – for free as the Eagles don’t look to be matching the offer. But the Zac Smith trade could be finalised from a simple player-player trade, but we are yet to be informed as to how that will pan out.
If Geelong can squeeze these four free agent targets into the Cattery as well as getting a full preseason and season into Rhys Stanley, Daniel Menzel, Mitch Duncan and Mitch Clark then they will look like a revitalised club who are now set to be a genuine top eight if not top four contender.
Look out for Daniel Menzel next year as he is back from his fourth knee reconstruction and we saw what he could do in his comeback match against Collingwood. I think it’s time for Menzel to sparkle on the big stage.
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