When departing a GMHBA Stadium home game and heading west across St Mary’s Oval it’s always good practice to take in the numbers on the backs of the youngsters replicating the heroics just played out in front of them.

The number on the back of the jumper is usually reflective of one of three things.

Firstly, it could be that the number is that of their absolute favourite player and after much begging they were granted a new guernsey with the number of choice freshly stamped on the back.

Secondly, their parent or family member entrusted with the purchasing of the jumper was given permission to select a number they think would be fitting to be worn with pride.

Or finally, thirdly, they are beneficiary of a hand-me-down. Their jumper was at one point the pride and joy of their parent, brother or sister and now at the request of their own Cats jumper received the hand-me-down including the existing number.

You’d have been hard-pressed to find a number 44 jumper on any youngster’s backs prior to this millennium. Prior to 2001, the number 44 guernsey for the Cats had lived an inglorious life.

It was first donned by Ron Van T’Hag in 1959 for the one game. The Dutchman had emigrated to Australia six years earlier and had soon found himself on the production line at the Ford factory in Geelong. Obviously impressing his workmates, many of whom played for the Cats on Saturdays, Van T’Hag played two games in total for the Cats in 1959 before going on to play for Torquay.

It was 16 years before the 44 was seen on a VFL field when Bruce Thomson played two games in it in 1975. The next two to grace the field in the number 44 were both players who would go on to have very good careers for the Cats albeit they would only play in the number 44 for one of those years each before quickly moving to lower numbers. Mark Bos (44 in 1979) and Darren Flanigan (44 in 1981) clearly felt no attachment to their debut guernseys.

There may have been hopes for a resurrection of the number 44 jumper in 1985 when the Cats recruited the talented but injury-prone Tiger Shane Williams to the club. After playing 16 games in number 44 in his first season, Williams fell for Bos and Flanigan’s trick and moved to the number 8 for the 1986 season. Williams would play just five more games for the Cats before being traded to Footscray at the end of 1987.

Peter Baldwin was next with his five games in 1987 and 1990. Then came Daniel Fletcher who played the one game in the 1994 in number 44 before an accomplished career for St Mary’s in the Geelong Football League.

Tristan Lynch, recruited from Brisbane in 1999, started promisingly in the number 44 with 13 games before asking at the end of the season to move up two places to 42, the number he had worn for the Lions previously.

With Lynch giving up the jumper at the end of 1999, the Cats offered it to their pick 47 in the draft, Corey Enright.

Speaking in 2017, Enright revealed he was offered to go down the route of many previous wearers of the number 44 and trade up.

“I got drafted in 1999 with six other players, so there were seven of us who came through that year,” said Enright on Fox Footy’s Open Mike program.

“When you first get to the footy club, you’re just rapt to be here: ‘I’ve got a jumper, I’ve got a number’.

“I had the opportunity after three or four years to downgrade that number when a few numbers became available.

“Three and four were offered up to me. Jason Snell and Adam Houlihan had previously worn them and the club said, ‘would you like to downsize your number?’.

“I thought about it, but at the end of the day, Cameron Ling and myself — obviously 44 and 45 — we sat next to each other at the lockers.

“At Geelong, and probably similar to all clubs, you have the names on the lockers — if you play 100 games or 200 games you get your name on the locker. And we were sitting there and we had no names above us, on both lockers.

“And we thought ‘wouldn’t it be cool if we could be the first players to appear on these lockers?’.

“So I guess we made a little pact between me and Lingy that we’d stick together and it worked out pretty well.”

And work out pretty well it did. Not only would Enright become the first Cat to appear on the number 44 locker, surpassing the prerequisite 100 games or Premiership, he would become the Cats games record holder notching up 332 games in the blue and white hoops.

Renowned for his skill and courage, Enright formed a key part of the Cats formidable defence. Perhaps the greatest indication of his impact was his best and fairest wins in the Cats premiership years of 2009 and 2011. His six All Australians put to an end the speak of Enright being underrated that hung around most of his career.

You could forgive the Cats for thinking they put all the might of the number 44 into one player. And you could forgive the player who pulled on the jumper next to feel like they were filling an overwhelmingly large hole.

But the Cats would have had few doubts about the qualities of the man handed Enright’s 44. Tom Stewart famously was brought to the Cats attention by his South Barwon and now backline coach Matthew Scarlett. Also working closely with Stewart at South Barwon at the time was Enright’s older brother Mark.

Stewart soon found his way to the Cats VFL side and then a month after Enright announced his retirement, the Cats selected Stewart with Pick 40 in the National Draft. Handed the famous number 44, Stewart then received an extra bonus; the man who wore the jumper for 332 games was to be his development coach in his first season.

There is little doubting the influence of Scarlett and Enright on Stewart has been immense. But it would be fairer to look at it as moulding what is clearly a smart and competitive athlete. The two All Australians and his appointment as a member of the leadership group in just his third season point to someone who is made of something very special.

This Thursday night, he will officially earn his spot on the number 44 locker at the Cats when he plays game 100.

And it is safe to say there are three reasons that a kid might be wearing a number 44 jumper on St Mary’s Oval after a game and all of them would be extremely valid.

Geelong’s Number 44s

Ron Van T’Hag – 1959 - One game

Bruce Thomson - 1975 – Two games

Mark Bos - 1979 – Six games (switched to 24 in 1980)

Darren Flanigan – 1981 – One game (switched to 14 in 1982)

Shane Williams - 1985 – 16 games (switched to eight in 1986)

Peter Baldwin - 1987 & 1990 – Five games

Daniel Fletcher - 1994 – One game

Tristan Lynch – 1999 – 13 games (switched 42 in 2000)

Corey Enright - 2001 – 332 games

Tom Stewart - 2017 – 99 games*