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AFL top 100: The wash-up – Geelong

Cats player Tom Hawkins. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
Roar Guru
16th September, 2018
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While Chris Scott has now coached Geelong into seven final series in his eight years at the club, it’s now been seven years since the Cats won a premiership, and their recent final performances have been poor.

Despite the recruiting drive that led to the return of Gary Ablett and the fact that the club can boast the best trio of on-ballers in the league, there is a sense that the premiership window is closing.

The disclosure that Gary Ablett was carrying an injury into the game may explain why he was below par in the first half of the final, but he came into his own when the pace dropped off after half-time.

He should be there for next year along with the other six top-100 game-players still at the club. Joel Selwood is only two games away from being a top-10 all-time game player at Geelong, and with Harry Taylor, Tom Hawkins and Ablett all having played 200-plus games for the club, they have an experienced core. The club’s recruiting was amongst the best for the year, with only Stewart Crameri being a real disappointment.

Tim Kelly was the standout, playing 23 games and kicking 24 goals, while both Jack Henry and Lachie Fogarty also played well. Esava Ratugolea (eight games) and Quinton Narkle (six games) showed good form despite limited opportunities.

The Cats three other top-100 game-players all have the age and experience combinations to continue to be good contributors for a number of years. Mitch Duncan continued his good form and Cameron Guthrie and Mark Blicavs both became top-100 game-players during the year.

Gary Ablett lines up a kick

(Adam Trafford/AFL Media/Getty Images)

The Cats have already signalled their intention to recruit speed and experience by targeting Luke Dahlhaus (Western Bulldogs) and Gary Rohan (Sydney). Rohan’s year this season was not great, but he could be forgiven as a result of the tragedy that befell his family.

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Both Dahlhaus and Rohan are proven goal-scorers, with Dahlhaus 52nd with 110 goals on the Western Bulldogs all-time goal-kickers list despite kicking only two goals this season). Gary Rohan finished his career at Sydney equal 69th with Brett Kirk on 96 goals. He also had a meagre return in 2019, kicking only seven goals in 11 games.

Both these players will add to the Geelong arsenal that already includes six of the club’s greatest goal-kickers of all time, led by Tom Hawkins. Hawkins, who turned 30 this year, should have a number of good years left given his bulk and durability. In the last seven seasons he’s played fewer than 20 games only once, and that was in 2015 when he played 19 matches.

Only two goals short of 500 goals, Hawkins is third on the Cats all-time goal-scorers list and 60th on the AFL list. If he can average 50 goals a year for the next five years, he will still remain third on the Cats list, but climb as high as into the mid-teens on the AFL all-time list. He kicked 60 goals this season and with the help of Ablett, Selwood, Daniel Menzel, Duncan, Dangerfield, Dahlhaus and Rohan, he may still have a few finals in that time to assist his total.

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