MARK Blicavs went into last season hoping that at some stage he would get the chance to make his AFL debut for Geelong.

Such was his extraordinary progress, the 198cm former steeplechaser ticked off that goal in round one. And from there he never looked back.

Playing as mobile ruckman, Blicavs ran out in 19 of the Cats' 22 home and away matches and all three of their finals.

The 22-year-old can still hardly believe it.

"I was very fortunate to be put in the team from the start," Blicavs told geelongcats.com.au.

"And I was very happy to keep playing.

"I certainly exceeded the goals I had at the start of last year."

Blicavs' challenge is to be better again this season, and he has been working hard both on and off the training track.

He is now 97kgs, which is 10kgs heavier than when he arrived at the club.

And despite the extra bulk, he remains easily the best long-distance runner at Geelong, repeatedly blitzing his teammates in pre-season time-trials.

He recently ran 5.46 in a two-kilometre dash, which is only 30 seconds slower than when he was an aspiring Olympic hopeful.

"I figure that if I can still break six minutes for the 2km time-trial, I've clearly still got that fitness base from my running days," he said.

"What I have to keep doing is work on the football-specific fitness."

Blicavs had a slow start to his preparations for 2014, as last September he had surgery to repair a wrist injury he carried through the latter part of the season.

He is still wearing a brace on his wrist at training, but he is confident that the problem has been solved.

"I had my final x-ray a couple of weeks ago and the surgeons game me the all clear, so I'm just working on building my strength up," Blicavs said.

"(The brace) is just precautionary at the moment. I'll use it until the games begin and then I'll start taping it.

"I've been doing full training for a while now. I had the cast on for about a month into pre-season, then I was on a modified program for a while.

"Our pre-season camp in Coffs Harbour in December was when I started to up the ante."

With fellow big men Dawson Simpson and Hamish McIntosh hoping to shoulder most of the rucking load this year, there is much intrigue surrounding where Blicavs might slot into the team.

"I've been doing a lot of training in all different spots," he said. "I've been working a bit in the forward line, defence and in the midfield.

"I'll keep working on all the different aspects of my game, but I'm certainly still working on my ruck craft, so I'm going to be there to help out Hamish and 'Dawse'.

"Hopefully both of them stay fit during the year, but if needed I'll be able to give them a chop-out."

As for whether he can exceed his performance of last year, when he snuck under the guard of a few opposition clubs, Blicavs isn't making any grand statements.

"I'm just focussing on staying fit and healthy and having a big pre-season," he said.

"If I get a game in the AFL team, I'll be rapt with that again.

"I'm trying not to get complacent. I'm continuing to do the hard yards, ask lots of questions, and do everything I need to do."

Twitter: @AFL_AdamMcNicol http://afl.to/adammcnicol