Senior Coach, Chris Scott, spoke to 3AW about the young draftee that surprised many spectators during the NAB Cup on Saturday, with his impressive efforts against Adelaide at Simonds Stadium.
Blicavs, pronounced Blitz-arvs, already has the build and athletic ability on his side, with both his parents representing Australia in basketball, however his desire to learn and develop as a quality footballer, is the real attribute that appeals to Chris Scott.
‘’Yeah we are pretty excited, we think our list is pretty good,’’ Scott said.
‘’I think the key with Mark is that he played junior football, he was a pretty good under 13 and 14s player, he understands the game and even when he gave up to concentrate on his running, he still had a footy in his hands, even though he wasn’t playing organized competition.
‘’But the most impressive thing apart from his physical attributes, which are pretty impressive, is his appetite for knowledge and his desire to learn, is as good as anyone I’ve ever seen, and we’ve got some pretty good role models down at Geelong.’’
The performance that Blicavs gave on Saturday has already indicated to Scott that this young player fits the Geelong frame they’re looking for to continue the Cat's success, and their culture at the club.
‘’It is a little bit surprising how well he is going, given the work he’s put in he deserves at least a little more NAB Cup time,’’ Scott said.
Another new recruit that has recently stood out for the Cats is former Melbourne player, Jared Rivers. Scott believes the defender has fitted in extremely well and recognizes that his talent may have been overlooked when playing for Melbourne.
‘’I’ve always had a little bit of a theory defenders playing in poor teams are probably a little bit under-rated, they’re under pressure a lot and the ones that can probably stand up against 50 or 60s inside the 50 are generally pretty good players,’’ Scott explained.
‘’I have been pleasantly surprised with how well he has fitted in, we did a lot of work on the sort of person Jared was and we were really comfortable that his character would be a good fit for Geelong.’’
‘’He’s good mates with Andrew Mackie, he went to school with Mack and he knows Tom Lonergan quite well, but it feels to us, through the preseason, that they’ve been playing together for a long time.
‘’He’s still got to put it together in the regular season but the signs are good.’’
