GEELONG recruit Patrick Dangerfield won't put a ceiling on what the Cats can achieve in 2016 but says building "team cohesion" will be the priority over the summer months.
The Cats have undergone of a list transformation over the last few months with the arrival of Dangerfield, Lachie Henderson, Zac Smith and Scott Selwood.
They saw the departures Steve Johnson, James Kelly, Mathew Stokes, Jared Rivers and Hamish McIntosh, and on Tuesday night, welcomed Ryan Gardner, Wylie Buzza, Matthew Hayball and former Hawthorn and Fremantle rookie Sam Menegola at the NAB AFL Draft.
While Cats' CEO Brian Cook has already outlined a top four finish as their big aim for next season, Dangerfield said bringing together the new-look group would have to come first.
"I don't think any group will ever put limitations on themselves," Dangerfield said on Wednesday at his first official day of pre-season.
"For us, I suppose it's getting that team cohesion we need to build throughout the pre-season.
"It's been a large off-season and even the season before with players moving out and new players coming in.
"The pre-season I'm assuming will be used to build that team cohesion and the game style that we'd like to play, but I'm certainly not going to put any predictions on how we'll go just yet."
Feels like he first day of a school. #preseason @GeelongCats #letsgetrolling
— Patrick Dangerfield (@dangerfield35) November 24, 2015
Having arrived back in Australia on Monday after taking part in the International Rules tour of New York and Dublin, Dangerfield admitted his head was still spinning.
His house in Surf Coast town Moggs Creek remains inundated with "the Himalayas of boxes" and is waiting for him and partner Mardi to completely settle in.
The hectic weeks since he joined the Cats from Adelaide in a trade haven't left much time for Dangerfield to consider whether he'd like a leadership role next season.
"Potentially … it's not something I've really thought about, to be honest," he said.
"It's been a really busy off-season so far and for me it's been about preparing to play over in Ireland and enjoying that, which I've done, and there's plenty of other stuff on the go at the moment."
Dangerfield was eased into training on Wednesday in a session at Newtown Oval but expected to ramp up his workload soon.
"It's been a whirlwind couple of days and I'm still a bit jetlagged,” he said.
"Over the next week, I'll sit down with the conditioning staff and go through how pre-Christmas looks and make sure I'm in a good space come January and February and the season proper."
Them first day/new kid feels... @dangerfield35 pic.twitter.com/XT8ls4gxcT
— Geelong Cats (@GeelongCats) November 25, 2015