Despite Friday’s shattering loss against the Hawks, Jimmy Bartel was focusing on the positives and was thrilled to see the younger Cats step up when the ground got shaky.

Bartel says the five-point loss took many of the players back to their nine-point defeat to the Brisbane Lions in the 2005 Preliminary Final. He admits that such a loss is never easy to swallow but it’s the lessons you draw from it that’s important.   

“Our young players were really a part of that and sometimes a tough loss is a really good lesson, and for us older guys it felt like 2005 all over again,” Bartel told Cats TV.

“But if we can learn from our mistakes I’m sure we’ll come back, as they say, bigger and stronger next year, so look out for the Cats.”

Josh Caddy, who only came to the stage in the third quarter, delivered an outstanding performance and practically stole the show with 12 disposals, three clearances and one goal.

Overall, Bartel was excited with how well the young Cats took the game on and were never afraid to take things further, in particular Steven Motlop, Josh Caddy, Cam Guthrie, Jordan Murdoch and Mark Blicavs.

“I’m so proud with everything they’ve done and how hard they’ve worked all year, and the best thing about it they were brave when the game was tense,” Bartel said.

“Mots kicked a great goal, Cads was going after it and Cam Guthrie looks like he’s played 200 games, we’re pretty lucky to have him just slip into our backline.”

Friday night demonstrated that the Cats are not done yet and as Bartel says “look out for the Cats next year.”

Click on the video above to catch the complete interview with Jimmy Bartel.