Jake Kolodjashnij has returned with a flourish into the Geelong AFL team, following an interrupted pre-season that saw him miss the opening three games of the season through injury.

With the Geelong defence undermanned, Kolodjashnij’s return in round four flew under the radar but he has proven to be a crucial factor in Geelong’s revival over the past month.

The Premiership backman has become a key pillar in the Geelong backline after debuting in 2015, evolving into one of the most reliable lockdown defenders in the competition.

Kolodjashnij says the Cats' defensive unit is crucial to the style of game Geelong wants to play.

“It can kick start a lot of our attacks, and we can build a lot of really good looks off the back of our intercepting,” he told Triple M’s Rush Hour.

“It helps to feed our forwards, obviously we have some unbelievable threats when their up and going in Jez and Hawk.

As long as we can keep feeding them off the back of some good intercepting, it definitely plays a big part.”

Kolodjashnij said that playing alongside a number of talented defenders helps the Cats structure down back.

“I think we’ve got a few threats down in our back half that can intercept the ball really well," he said. 

"Obviously Tom Stewart is one of the best in the game at it, big Esava Ratugolea has really come a long way in that category and he is reading it really well. Sam De Koning, will be held back a bit with injury but obviously a beautiful mark of the footy also.

“We’re pretty cool calm and collected back there, with Stewart leading the charge. We are a really tight knit unit, and we love playing alongside one another down there.”

Kolodjashnij was a standout last weekend against Adelaide, taking an equal career-high 11 marks in the win over the Crows.

Speaking on the, ‘To the Final Bell,’ Cameron Ling and Meg McDonald touched on Kolodjashnij’s importance to the Geelong team.

“Kolodjashnij is playing brilliant football right now," Ling said

"He is rock solid one on one, his decision-making with ball in hand has improved and he has just gone to another level."

McDonald agreed.  

"I think we said a couple of weeks ago when he was out, we realised how important he was and that has been reiterated when he is back in the team. 

"He can play on all sizes too, occasionally he plays on smaller forwards but often he can play on forward's far bigger than him. It is such a huge asset in defence if you can play on both taller and smaller forwards.”