It’ll have been 147 long days since the most bizarre of AFL season’s ended back in October.

But now, 2021 is here and we can’t wait to get going. And even though the boys’ are in Adelaide for the season opener, there’s an undeniable buzz around town.

Here’s a few things that geelongcats.com.au will be keeping an eye on come Saturday afternoon.

All eyes on… The Tom & Jeremy Show

If you watched any of the first episode of the Making their Mark series on Amazon Prime about the 2020 AFL season, you would have heard Giants skipper Stephen Coniglio say that he thought Jeremy Cameron is the best player to ever pull on the charcoal and orange. Let that sink in for second… they’ve had some fair players up there. And now we’ve got Cameron AND Tom Hawkins in the hoops.

Even the neutrals are excited about this one.

So, how does it work – did we learn anything from the pre-season games? Maybe a little. Chemistry is obviously a key but both players are especially unselfish and we’ve seen a bit of that already. Hard not to see them firing as a tandem nice and early in the season.  

Cameron played his best footy as a Giant up the ground, but as Hawkins himself has said, the 27-year-old packs a lot of strength into wiry frame, so he could easily play closer to goal. As for the Tomahawk, the reigning Coleman medallist is in career best form at the age of 32, and his versatility, despite his size, provides Chris Scott with some formidable weaponry in front of goal going into the new season.

Should be great fun to watch.

All eyes on… Jordan Clark

He’s always had something, Jordan Clark. It was no accident that the Claremont product was taken at pick 15 in the 2018 national draft, he’s just had a rotten run of luck with injury which hopefully is now behind him.

There’s no need to go through it all here, but 18 games in 2019 fell to just three last year, but as Chris Scott has already confirmed, he’s a lock to be on the plane to the City of Churches this Friday.

His standout performance against the Bombers in the AAMI Community Series (27 touches in three quarters) would have done him no harm, but a summer working on his endurance, adding to his already significant leg-speed, means hopes are high for the 20-year-old Claremont product down at Kardinia Park.

Named among three young Cats Joel Selwood said he expects to be household names by the end of the year, along with Gryan Miers and Brandan Parfitt.

All eyes on… the new boys

It might be obvious but the entire footy world will be watching how Messrs Cameron, Issac Smith and Shaun Higgins plug into the 2021 version of the Cats.

It might be obvious but the entire footy world will be watching how Messrs Issac Smith and Shaun Higgins plug into the 2021 version of the Cats.

As Jay-Z once said, you can pay for school but you can’t buy class, and former Bulldog, Roo and now Cat, Shaun Higgins has it in spades. Higgins didn’t stuff the stats sheet in either pre-season contest but he had more than a few moments with ball in hand that would have lit a spark under many a Cats fan. Still silky at age 33, his versatility will be a huge boost for the club. Let’s just hope the new Dad of twins is nice and rested.

Then there’s Issac Smith. Who still looks just odd in a Geelong jumper but as one of the League’s best deliverers of the footy inside 50 will create havoc for opposition defences with his run and carry off the wing.

All eyes on… the Crows

While most pundits have the Matthew Nicks’ team finishing bottom four this year, you can be certain that the Chris Scott and his coaching group will not be taking the Crows lightly this season.

Mug punters aside, if you take a closer look at the Adelaide’s final month last year and there was a bit to like. They won three of their last four, and made Richmond earn the four points in the final game of the season, trailing by just two goals going into the main break.

Before that – they played the Cats and kept it close, going into the final quarter behind by just nine points before Geelong powered away. The spike in form seem to come as Nick’s tweaked his side’s defensive game and the young coach would have been pleased with what he saw to finish out the season.

And the Adelaide Oval is and remains a formidable place for visiting teams to play.