bennymacca wrote:varcoe is the one mentioned almost every year as trade bait, but he never leaves. agree with you though, he could...
Stevie J could still play for another few years. go back to being a permanent forward and he will kick you 50 goals a year. Similar to what ablett will do for GC in the coming years.
Geelong have done exceedingly well in blooding their youngsters over the past few years, though i still think they lack a young midfielder that has really taken the step up. Duncan possibly, and i guess christensen when he is back, but they seem to have a lot of half forward finisher types, and not many that do the real grunt work.
maybe Hunt and guthrie are those lads that will step up and be the inside mids.
Varcoe was offered for trade and no one wanted him. If he doesn't do the business this year he'll end up at Centrals or Adelaide next season. In the last couple of years Steve Johnson and Matty Stokes have been successfully included in the midfield rotations. If someone told me three years ago that we would make an inside mid out of Stokes I would not have believed it. Not many 'young midfielders' are going to have an impact at AFL level. When was the last time a Cat draftee was put in the middle for Geelong in his first year?
Geelong's system is VFL apprenticeship. As mentioned in this thread Josh Caddy is the standout younger midfielder but Mitch Duncan is another who has slowly gotten his chance in the midfield. Two young players who have really stood up this year in Cameron Guthrie and George Horlin-Smith but looking ahead I can see them getting extensive midfield time particular Guthrie who is being groomed as a stopper seeing as in recent seasons star midfielders have been having a picnic at our expense. Guthrie is good enough to evolve past being a tagger.
Young midfielders don't do the 'grunt work' at Geelong, they get groomed for it. When the opportunity is there, they go for it. Some will make it some won't. With Stephen Wells in charge of recruiting I have no concerns in this area.
regards,
REB