Rhys Stanley feels a healthy rivalry with fellow Cats’ ruckman Zac Smith is bringing out his best ahead of the JLT Community Series next week.

87 games into his AFL career, the 26-year-old believes he is on the verge of completing his most consistent pre-season and hopes a tandem with Smith can work over the opposition in 2017.

“We’ve had a really competitive pre-season and we’re super close,” Stanley said of his ruck partner Smith.

“It’s good fun to talk about it [ruck work] off-field and we’ve been helping each other through the whole time – ways we can beat each other, ways we can find it difficult.”

“I think that’s lifted both of our standards.”

A five-goal haul against the Western Bulldogs in round 19 last year showed Stanley has the capacity to not only contribute but dominate other areas of the ground.

It’s that kind of versatile performance his coaches, the fans and Stanley himself wants to see more of in the season ahead.

“That’s where the game is now. You can’t be a single position type player,” Stanley told Cats Media.

“I’ve just got to be open to whatever comes and just basically train the different positions and be ready for whatever.”

“We’ve got some really athletic guys in the side and to be able to help those guys out, those types that can cover the ground and help at both ends … if I can step in and take a bit of that load, that’d be good.”

Watch the full interview with Rhys Stanley via the video player above.