Once upon a time if you got selected as a ‘top up player’ at Geelong you could expect to be sitting on the bench for much of the day and play limited game time.

In the lead up to game you may have been left out of specific team meetings in order to keep information ‘in-house’ or not allowed to access certain facilities that were ‘AFL Only’.

On some occasions you would only be recruited into the team on the day before the match and be simply known as ‘mate’ by the rest of your teammates on the ground.

If the side required more than 7 or 8 of these ‘top players’ then an ‘honourable defeat’ would probably be the best result the VFL Cats could hope for.

It is a very different story from the one that exists today.

Recent history would suggest that the Geelong VFL side is no longer a side that’s performances are totally dependent on the number of AFL players available for selection on any particular weekend.

In 2013 the Geelong VFL side has selected an average of 13 VFL listed players in the side (23 players) each match this season. At the halfway point of the season the VFL Cats sit in 2nd position on the ladder (7 wins, 2 losses).

Last Sunday the Cats selected a record 17 VFL listed players to take on a Carlton aligned Northern Blues line up that included 16 AFL and Rookie listed players and recorded a 58 point victory.

The 17 record breakers included a number of players who could be easily classified as ‘VFL veterans and another ‘grouping’ made up of emerging local talent.

The ‘VFL vets come from a core group of VFL listed players within the squad that are arguably as influential as the core group at any VFL club. Skipper Troy Selwood (40 VFL games), Dom Gleeson (170), Mark Corrigan (50), Jack Hollmer (73), Jaxson Barham (75), Ben Raidme (61), Andrew Banjanin (32) and Robert Condy (36) have all been involved with the club and in some cases other VFL clubs for a number of years.

Their motivation is not to play AFL next week but to play at the highest level possible. When they play, they are required to play a specific role. A ‘role’ that will help the team win, but more importantly a role that will help their young AFL teammates around them to develop and become better players.

Despite the need for ‘old heads’ in the system, opportunities still exist for the emerging local talent such as Daniel Gibbs, Daniel Measures and defensive duo Matthew Sully and Ryley Hall.

The decrease in the size of AFL lists and the management of AFL listed players has lead to the increase in the number of VFL listed players required to play each week. For instance the VFL Cats used an average of 5.6 VFL listed players in 2006, 6.8 in 2007 and 6.7 in 2008.
There is no doubt the increased opportunities have given the Geelong VFL side more of a ‘local representative side’ look in recent times.

In the Round 9 victory over the Northern Blues, the Geelong VFL side fielded players who will this weekend, during the VFL Bye, go back and represent their local clubs - South Barwon, Newtown, St Joseph’s, Grovedale, Lara, Queenscliff and Lorne.
Polo shirts, bomber jackets and hats featuring the logos of all these local clubs could be seen around the quarter time and three quarter time huddles at Simonds Stadium last weekend.

They were worn by local players, coaches, board members and supporters who were keen to follow the progress on how their local boys were going when pitted against AFL listed players.

Who knows, the local supporters might be watching one of their ‘local lads’ embark on a journey that takes them to the highest level.
A number of the ‘pathway opportunities’ the Geelong VFL program has provided for current AFL players such as Scott Thompson (North Melbourne), Shane Mumford (Sydney Swans), James Podsiadly (Geelong Cats), Jonathan Simpkin (Hawthorn) and Jackson Sheringham (Geelong Cats) has been well documented.

The VFL listed players playing today have exactly the same opportunity as what these players had in their time at the Cattery.
In fact they have more.

They will have opportunities to play more games. Due to trends in the game, they will be required to play increased game time and more game time than the young AFL listed players they play alongside. Throughout the week they will have access to more full time AFL coaches as well as specialist medical, conditioning and football technology staff. When they arrive for training they will have access to all of the same facilities they would if they were taken at pick No.1 in the AFL National Draft.

Terms such as ‘top-up players’ or ‘supplementary players’ are very much becoming a thing of the past.

Geelong VFL listed players are a crucial part of the AFL development program and whenever they are called upon to wear the blue and white hoops they are expected to not only play, but teach the ‘Geelong Way’.