Those hard and crusty football coaches of years gone by, Bill Shankly and Vince Lombardi, supposedly uttered immortal lines about winning being the only thing that mattered.

But the legends who laid the foundations of success at Liverpool and the Green Bay Packers, were not to know of the qualities that are shaping the young players in Geelong’s 2011 VFL team.

Winning, albeit rare with just two victories so far this season, is an aim for the young Cats without it being an all-consuming factor in their hearts and heads every time they take the field.

Winning, or trying to win, is just one part of the whole package of football education and experience presented to the up-and-coming young Cats by coach Dale Amos and his staff.

“There is still an emphasis on winning as part of their development,” Amos said. “We still see that as important. It’s important that you develop a desire to want to win and be competitive every week, but we don’t ever make short-term decisions that are going to affect us long-term.

“If it means we persist with players in certain positions or we give guys opportunities to play certain roles it’s always with the long-term in view. We’re not really compromised by having to win games of footy if it means it’s going to be better for us long-term. If it means we sacrifice a win we’re prepared to do that. But we can certainly have both (winning and development) I think.”

When planning for 2011, there was always the expectation the VFL Cats would labour through the first half of the season before putting together stronger performances in the second half.

That theory has been proven correct over the past month or so and was emphasised with gusto during last Saturday’s 93-point smashing of Frankston as the Cats posted their second win of the campaign.

“It was a nice reward for the boys,” Amos said. “We played really well. We’ve played some pretty good footy over the past month and it was probably as complete a performance as we’ve had. We were really consistent in the way we set up and our effort was really good and some of the young kids are coming on, which is really exciting.

“The first-year kids have played 10-12 games now and have really started to adjust to what we expect from them and the way we want them to play. We always expected the back half of our year in the VFL is going to be more consistent and our ability to play good footy will be better when they’ve played some footy with us.”

There were some helpful and experienced hands on deck for the VFL team last weekend with Cameron Mooney, Tom Hawkins and Simon Hogan providing plenty of leadership for the younger players.

They also provide the examples of what needs to be done to play consistently at AFL level, when crossing the bridge from one level to the next can be so fraught with obstacles and difficulties.

That young blokes like Allen Christensen, Josh Cowan and Nathan Vardy have stepped up from the VFL to the AFL this season and made an impact tells you the process of development at Skilled Stadium is the right one.

Aside from the obvious educational aspects that surround skills and tactics, the teaching process also includes trying to simulate Geelong’s AFL preparations at VFL level so that the transition from one to the other is as smooth as possible for the young players.

“There’s no doubt the intensity is greater and the speed of the game are significantly greater at AFL level,” Amos said. “The one thing we try to do is make things as consistent as we can so the style we play, the way we attack and defend and the way we set-up remains exactly the same as what the AFL do.

“Even things like our trainings and meetings pre-game and our game day runs are exactly the same as the AFL as it can possibly be, so we’re trying to create an environment where we replicate what they do as much as possible. That definitely helps with the transition and has helped the kids who have got the opportunities this year to make that transition a lot easier.”

So there is a lot more to Geelong’s VFL team than just winning and where the young Cats finish on the ladder, whether in a good or bad position, is not what will define the success of the season.

The success and value of the season will be defined by aspects such as how many young players have pushed up into the AFL, how much the newest draftees have improved their games, whether anyone on the VFL list is good enough to be considered for the rookie list.

That said, it doesn’t hurt to win a few games of footy along the way and there could be a few more on the way for the Cats before this season is over.

“We’ve played well enough to win three of our last four and we just haven’t got over the line in a couple of them so I’m really confident we’ll win our fair share in the last part of the year,” Amos said. “That is pretty important for our young kids to see there is some reward for their effort.

“We all become competitive once the game starts and we all want to win. With the young kids we’re trying to make them as resilient as we can, but there’s nothing like winning a game of footy to make them feel good about themselves.”

It’s all part of the process of getting players to the point where, as Bill Shankly and Vince Lombardi said, winning is the only thing that matters.