The Geelong Cats' Ollie Dempsey has been named the Round One Rising Star nominee following his starring role in the Cats' eight-point win against St Kilda on Saturday night.
The 21-year-old kicked a game-high three goals from 15 disposals (13 kicks, two handballs) and seven marks in only his eighth game.
The 187cm forward had nine score involvements, two goal assist and two contested marks In front of 39,352 fans at GMHBA Stadium.
Dempsey is a former basketball and volleyball player and was selected in the 2022 Rookie Draft at pick 13 who was drafted from Old Carey after playing community footy with Boroondara Hawks and juniors with the Hawthorn Citizens.
Geelong coach Chris Scott said after the game on Saturday that the sky is the limit for the 21 year old.
"Ollie has forced his way into a team that pretty much, doesn’t have any injury concerns, so that speaks to his preseason," Scott said.
"I don’t want to put too much pressure on him [and] I hesitate to say this, but he is a complete player. He doesn’t have too many parts of his game where you look at him and think, ‘You’ve really got to get that up to AFL standard’.
"But he got plucked out of Old Carey Amateurs, where he played volleyball and basketball, he’s still early in his football journey, much less his AFL journey, but he does have some special attributes that are nice to have on your list because they’re hard to coach."
