1. Is it Saturday yet?
No one is more excited than our senior coach to get back to playing some footy in front of the Cats’ loyal members on a Saturday afternoon at the MCG.
“Everyone around our club is so excited to get back to some level of normality and share our excitement with our supporters and our members who have been deprived of the opportunity to watch our boys in action for a long period of time."
“Even taking off my Geelong hat for a second, I just can't wait to watch the footy tonight and then to think that they're going to back up with a big game Thursday night, Friday night, and Saturday 2.10pm at the MCG, it makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.
“I hope our supporters feel the same way. We're pushing really hard to do everything we can to repay those that stuck by us over the last two years and we're just going to be going all out to repay them as best we can.”
2. Ins and Outs
Mitch Duncan will miss the season opener, but he and a few other big names won't be on the sidelines for long.
"That was a difficult decision for us because Mitch has been moving well the last couple of weeks but we're going to play the long game with a few of our really good players this week. Mitch is part of the group who are all short term, (and) we expect to have them back really soon, but we'll be conservative with them going into the season.”
“That includes Sam Menegola, Mark O'Connor, Jed Bews, Mitch Duncan, Gryan Miers... there might be one or two others.
“With the exception of the guys who won't play - our experienced players are in really good shape. It's a credit to our whole performance team in particular that they've got those guys raring to go and got us all optimistic about what we can do this year.
“Tom Stewart is flying, has been all pre-season. Jack Henry had a foot issue around Christmas that required minor surgery but hasn't put a foot wrong since then. He's had some match practice and he's more than ready to go.”
3. Silver Linings
Opportunity knocks for some of the Cats’ young guns.
“On the flip side, the really good news for us is that Sam De Koning will play. He's played AFL footy before but not much, Tyson Stengle will make his debut for us, Max Holmes will play, another young player we've got a lot of confidence in and high hopes for in the future, and Esava Ratugolea (will play)."
“I think it points to our future a little bit that Sam De Koning will be the key back at one end and Esava Ratugolea will be the key forward at the other end.”
4. The Stengle Story
After lighting up the pre-season match against the Tigers, Stengle gets his chance to strut his stuff on the big stage.
“Tyson (Stengle) comes into our team and gives us something a little bit different.”
“It's probably unfair to lump him in with our smaller, running forwards because he's got some unique skills separate to those guys.
“He's a great story as well. AFL footy generally does a great job at providing second chances for players and people and he hasn't put a foot wrong this pre-season. We didn't bring him in on a guarantee that he'd be on our team, he had to train and play and perform his way into our 22 for Round 1 and he's done that really well.”
5. More Midfield for Dangerfield
Finally, in disappointing news for opposition midfielders, fans can expect to see a fit and firing Patrick Dangerfield back in the Cats engine room more often.
“That's our intention. Over the last couple of years, as you know I don't intend to give a running commentary on the physical status of our guys but I'm optimistic that he'll have a better year this year than he has the last two years, just because of his physical status.
“We have played him more forward previously because of where he's been at with his body and we don't see that need as much this year as we have in the past.”
