After ending last year’s season on a high, Josh Caddy admits to SEN Radio that he’s now ‘hungry’ for the 2014 season to begin.

Last year was Josh Caddy’s first season as a Cat having started his AFL career at the Gold Coast Suns.

Coming to a club like Geelong was an opportunity that Caddy couldn’t wait to take on. With only 24 games and 15 goals under his belt he still had a lot to prove.

However, Caddy quickly realised that self-pressure can sometimes get the better of you.  

“I came in and had a really good pre-season and then the season started - and I suppose early in the year I was playing in the senior side but I wasn’t going great,” Caddy explained.

“I think I put a little bit too much pressure on myself and got a bit overawed, which was probably reflecting in the way I was playing.

“Then in the second half of the year I went back to the seconds for a couple of weeks and I found a little bit of form again - and I came out and almost got a bit of a licence off the coaches to play instinctive footy - not to worry too much about making mistakes…

“I’ve still got a lot of improving to do but hopefully I can take that momentum into this year’s preseason and next year’s season as well.”

Inherently, professional athletes are competitive and their expectations are always high. Caddy now realises that the challenge is about managing that ambitious energy in a way that doesn’t affect your task at hand.  

“I think a lot of blokes playing AFL footy (put a lot of pressure on themselves) that’s the sort of people we are - we’re very competitive,” Caddy said.

“Everyone might go through stages where that gets the better of them. Hopefully I learnt from that and I can be better for it heading into he future.”

Understandably, Caddy feels that a lot more time has passed since walking into the club this time last year.

“It feels like a long time ago now – but it was only a year. I wasn’t nervous I think I was more really excited and wrapped to have the opportunity to end up at a club where there are so many great players and so many guys that I could learn off,” Caddy explained.

“But maybe once playing footy came around I sort of didn’t want to let those blokes down and make mistakes, stuff like that. Like I said, it probably did get the better of me early last year but I think I dealt with it well in the second half of the year and changed things around.”

Despite a disappointing end to the season the Cats viewed a spectacular effort from Caddy, who came in as a substitute and made a valuable impact on the game, during the Preliminary Final against the Hawks. In a short time slot he was able to deliver 12 disposals, three clearances and one goal.

“Obviously I missed the week before and I was itching to get out there. I started as the sub, understandable, and I knew I had to make an impact but unfortunately we still lost,” Caddy said.

“But I felt really comfortable out there and ever since I’ve just been really hungry to get into the year ahead and it’s a shame that we have to wait all the way until March.”