It’s becoming a trademark of Max Holmes’ game: the burst of speed down the wing to launch Geelong into attack.
As the exciting young midfielder continues to play an important role in Geelong’s line-up, his run-and-carry and ability to drive the ball forward is proving a handy asset for the Cats.
To the Final Bell hosts Cameron Ling and Meghan McDonald were full of praise for Holmes on this week’s podcast, highlighting a couple of passages against West Coast in particular where Holmes took the ball down the wing with a couple of bounces, delivering the ball inside 50 to Tom Hawkins.
“If you’re going to be an A-grader, you have to have a weapon of your own, and his speed is that for him,” McDonald said.
“I mean, he’s an absolute machine on the outside. To think that he ultimately might become an inside player is so exciting.”
Ling said it has been an impressive start to the season from Holmes, who is enjoying career-high averages for disposals (20.2), tackles (4) and clearances (3.6) in the early stages of 2023.
“What I noticed with him when we were watching the early games, I thought he was solid. He was doing quite well, but in a midfield that was getting badly beaten,” Ling said.
“So he was getting … call it 18 touches and a goal, and the occasional little burst, which would be really good performances if it was in a good, balanced midfield that was winning games of football.
“And we’d all be going, ‘Oh yeah, Max is growing, and you can see him taking that step’. But because the midfield was getting badly beaten, we were probably down on everyone in the midfield, but I thought he was still okay.
“And then the last two weeks we’ve just seen jump, jump from Max, and he feels like now he is part of a really good midfield that he is growing in the confidence.”
Against Hawthorn on Easter Monday, Holmes was prominent as the Cats stormed back into form.
He collected a career-high 26 disposals, to go with seven inside 50s, five score involvements, five tackles, four clearances, four marks and a goal.
Against West Coast on the weekend, Holmes had 20 disposals, six clearances, and a game-high 564 metres gained.
Just 35 games into his career, Holmes is already establishing himself as one of the league’s most exciting up-and-coming midfielders.
While his running is a great asset for the Cats on the wings at the moment, he has also been earmarked for more of an inside-midfield role as opportunities present.
Holmes’ captain Patrick Dangerfield also heaped praise on the youngster earlier this year, saying he could one be “the best player in the competition”, and comparing him to a young Chris Judd.
But Holmes is happy going about building his own profile. While still only 20 years old, he has already shown himself to be at home on the big stage, stepping up in key clashes, including last year’s scintillating Qualifying Final against Collingwood.
As the Cats take on Sydney at GMHBA Stadium this Saturday night, Holmes will be keen to bring his best footy again in front of a vocal home crowd.
