On this week’s Tweet the Coach, Chris Scott spoke about Jimmy Bartel’s invaluable versatility and Mitch Brown’s next step towards a key position with the Cats.
At this early stage of the competition Bartel’s time in the forward line has been set to increase. However, Scott cannot and will not ignore that he’s a valuable player who’s capable of working all areas of the ground.
If the Cats need him somewhere else they won’t hesitate to move him there.
“We can’t guarantee that it will be for the whole year but we’ve earmarked Jimmy for a position in our forward line, at least for the short-term, with the knowledge that Jimmy’s a very good midfielder and defender as well,” Scott told Cats TV.
“So I don’t think he’ll ever lose he’s status as a jack-of-all-trades but the priority for us right at the moment is for Jimmy to play as a forward.”
Bartel, during the Cats 38-point win over the Crows, gave a terrific show in the Cats forward line for his 250th with four majors, 21 touches and five marks.
“I know he kicked four goals in Round 1 but we were still impressed with some of the work he did off the ball and the way he complemented other players.
“Four goals were nice and we would take that every week - but we think that he can offer even more than just goals.”
Another Cat who stood out during Round 1 was 11th game player Mitch Brown, who increased his goal tally by three goals after a solid performance against the Crows’ defenders.
Having spent much of his career impaired by injury, Brown has finally had the time to show Scott that he’s ready to step up as a key forward.
“He has taken his game to a new level,” Scott said.
“He’s been a little bit unfortunate in some ways Mitch, in that he had some serious injuries as a developing player, which is always hard for a key position players as we know.
“For the five or six years that he’s been on our list he’s probably missed half of that time through injury.”
Last year Brown, who played mostly as a defender, spent the majority of his game time in the VFL and played five games with the Cats senior squad.
“We’ve tried to develop Mitch as a player that can play in a key position at both ends of the ground and we think that his work as a defender has improved his play as a forward.”
“We made some pretty clear list management decisions to open up an opportunity for some of our young key forwards and Mitch was the one who grabbed that opportunity through the preseason.”
Chris Scott also discusses:
- the new rotations rule
- The Cats pressure up forward
- And Harry Taylor’s ability to play on small and tall players
Click on the video above to catch the full episode of Tweet the Coach on Cats TV.
