The Geelong Cats will be an interesting case study in years to come, after turning their back on the conventional rebuilding phase.
The pattern in the past has been that after a club has gone through a successful era they then slip quietly back down the AFL ladder to try and rebuild their list through early draft picks.
But the Cats are refusing to retreat and regroup, instead calling in reinforcements to launch another campaign straight away.
It is a high-risk, high-reward manoeuvre that arguably puts the Cats back in the contenders category – but for how long?
The likes of Andrew Mackie, Jimmy Bartel and Corey Enright are all at the end of their great careers with defensive rock Harry Taylor not far behind them.
Do their new recruits over the last couple of years cover the upcoming loss of these champions? Could these changes make them an even better team in years to come or does it just delay the inevitable crash that all great teams go through after losing so many of their experienced players?
A fascinating part of the Cats team is whether all the big-man weapons they have will work in the one team. It will be a huge advantage if they can pull it off and loads of fun to watch.
Mark Blicavs and Rhys Stanley are two off the most athletic big men in the competition. Last year’s best and fairest winner Blicavs can play anywhere, but the midfield is where he causes most problems for opposition teams. No team can counter a 198-centimetre running midfield machine.
An inconsistent forward at St Kilda, Stanley played the best footy of his career last year in the ruck for the Cats before getting injured.
These two players give Geelong a point of difference, and if used properly can be a real advantage. But what to do with their other three talented talls.
Mitch Clark, Nathan Vardy and Zac Smith are all best-22 players when up and going, but how do the Cats fit them in a side already containing Blicavs and Stanley?
They will look to play a fit Clark as a permanent forward alongside Tom Hawkins. The big fella was in great form early last season before his mental health issues and a calf injury brought an early end to his season.
Although Clark is a very capable forward, he needs some time in the ruck, where he played the best footy of his career at the Brisbane Lions.
Vardy and Smith’s best position is definitely the ruck, although both are capable of providing a good contest up forward.
Arguably all five of these talls’ best position is the ruck, all consider themselves number one ruckmen, and would be disappointed to be fit and playing VFL football. I can’t wait to see Chris Scott’s plan for all the big trees he has at his disposal.
Of course you can’t talk about the Cats this year without mentioning newly acquired midfield bull Patrick Dangerfield. Perhaps a lot of Geelong’s list management decisions over the last couple of years were related to getting Dangerfield to the club. Dangerfield wanted to return to Victoria for a long time, and Geelong would have wanted to make their club an attractive option.
I wonder what Dangerfield’s decision would have been had the Cats gone down the path of cleaning out their ageing warriors and embarking on a full-blown list rebuild through the draft and youth. Would four or five years at the bottom end of the AFL ladder while the club accumulated high-end draft picks to rebuild their list been attractive to Dangerfield, or would he have looked at another Melbourne club already in premiership contention?
One phrase that won’t be used to describe Geelong football any time soon is ‘bruise-free football’. With Dangerfield joining fellow midfield brute Joel Selwood, the Cats will smash opposition midfields into submission, while the outside run of Steven Motlop and Nakia Cockatoo could prove to be their biggest weapon. Motlop is definitely one of their most important players – a silky smooth outside runner whose good performances usually result in Cats wins. Cockatoo is a young excitement machine who has genuine pace and skills – he is going to provide plenty of highlights this year.
Lachie Henderson is another piece of the puzzle. The former Blue never found his best position at Carlton, and while he has played some good football in both the backline and forward, so far he has been inconsistent in both areas of the ground.
A key defence post is probably where Henderson will end up in years to come, but Henderson and Harry Taylor swapping between the attack and defence could bring real flexibility and unpredictability.
The big question out of all this is, does this importation of mature players make the Cats a premiership contender? If it only makes the Cats competitive over the next five years without a realistic shot at winning a premiership, does it just make the inevitable fall even harder?
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