Shaun Mannagh has provided insight into his first seven months at Geelong on Wednesday, with the mature aged recruit crediting Geelong's Academy for helping himself and other young players at the club to develop their game.  

The Academy helps Geelong’s first to third year players, setting up extra sessions to physically and mentally progress their development early in their AFL careers. 

Mannagh provided insight into the Academy and the key individuals driving development, when he joined SEN Breakfast this morning.  

“We call it the Cameron Ling Academy, that's with all the first to third year players and Shannon Byrnes runs that with Nigel Lappin and Mark Corrigan,” Mannagh told SEN.  

“We have academy today so we will have a meeting, that will be about reviewing the VFL game and the AFL game.  

“Then we will go with our psychologist down at Geelong, we do sessions with him weekly to work on the mental side of the game.   

“Then a lot of extra touch sessions with Nigel and Mark, but it is mostly about being able to review the game in a certain way to take things out of it.” 

Mannagh has had an impact since returning to the AFL side two weeks ago, picking up 20 disposals and 14 tackles against Hawthorn, followed by a 14 possession and one goal performance against Collingwood.  

The crafty forward was dominant at VFL level this year, showing improvement each week before earning a recall to the AFL team.  

Mannagh paid credit to the Cats’ team behind the scenes, which has played a vital role in helping the club stay competitive for a long period of time.   

“Stephen Wells is a bit of a master of using some late picks that turn out to be hidden gems, for example the most recent one in Lawson Humphries being the Rising Star this week,” Mannagh said.  

“There is obviously the talent identification, the team there is fantastic.  

“The development program that we have got is second to none, I am currently part of that and obviously the oldest in the group.  

“It is pretty incredible that we get the one on one coaching from those guys, but then the line coaches step in a lot and the group that we have got at the moment is driving from the front.  

“The development side is amazing, that helps with those hidden gems that Stephen Wells and Andrew Mackie have been able to pick up.” 

Geelong and the Western Bulldogs will do battle on Saturday night, celebrating Retro Game with the opening bounce at 7.30pm. For those looking to attend games, tickets can be found here.