Medical room: At present, Geelong's rehabilitation group consists of Marcus Drum, Ben Johnson, Jesse Stringer, Steven Motlop, Travis Varcoe, Mitch Brown and Josh Cowan. After suffering a broken leg in 2009 and a dislocated shoulder during the 2010 season, Brown, a highly-rated young forward, is expected to be the first of those players to join in full training when the team returns from its break.
Who's burning: The Cats have been really impressed by the four youngsters - Billie Smedts, Cameron Guthrie, George Horlin-Smith and Jordan Schroder - that they picked up in the NAB AFL Draft. "The draftees seem to get better and better every year," Geelong assistant coach Brenton Sanderson said. "They're just ready to step straight into it." Of the players who were already on the list, Taylor Hunt and Daniel Menzel have had outstanding pre-seasons to date, and both are expected to play plenty of senior footy in 2011.
Draftee watch: Geelong was able to recruit 198cm big man Ryan Bathie outside the draft because he had not been a registered footballer for at least three years. The 23-year-old, who hails from Melton, spent four seasons playing college basketball in Louisiana before returning to Australia where he was on the Melbourne Tigers' NBL roster and played for Kilsyth in the SEABL. "When we had our first training session after the draft, we showed all the players some vision of the draftees in action," Sanderson said. "We had Billie Smedts playing for the Geelong Falcons and then Ryan Bathie's tape was of him playing college basketball in America. The game was on ESPN! The boys thought that was pretty good."
Membership: The Cats were expected to top 25,000 members by Christmas, putting them on par with last season. The club signed more than 40,000 members during its 2010 campaign, and despite the departure of Gary Ablett it is aiming for a total of 42,000 in 2011. Star midfielder Jimmy Bartel has played a major role in developing a three-game membership package for the many university students in Geelong. Titled the "Full On Uni 3 Game Membership", it offers entry to a specially set up sports bar before matches.
After the break: Having spent plenty of time studying Scott's game plan, the players will be putting the theory into action when they return from their Christmas break. "We've done a lot of conditioning work pre-Christmas and the real game-style stuff will start when we get back," Sanderson said. "January and February will be big months for us in terms of learning how we're going to play."
Telstra Community Camp: Geelong will spend two days - February 8 and 9 - in the western Victorian seaside town of Port Fairy. Cats players and officials will undertake a variety of activities that will include training sessions, conducting Auskick clinics and visiting schools, nursing homes and hospitals.
NAB Cup opener: February 20 v North Melbourne and Western Bulldogs at Skilled Stadium.
What they say: "Any time someone new comes in then reputations have to be left to one side and the players have needed to build new reputations with the coach. Having said that, I know 'Scotty' [Chris Scott] has been really respectful of what this club has achieved, but I think the young players have been very keen to make a good first impression. We couldn't be happier with where we're situated at the moment." - assistant coach Brenton Sanderson.
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
