LIKE a few of his teammates presently on the senior list at Geelong, Brodie Moles is hoping to become another success story.

And from all reports, half-way through his first year at Skilled Stadium the 22-year-old Tasmanian is making a decent fist of things.

Picked up in last year’s rookie draft, Moles is one of five rookies on the Cats’ list.

Due to a shortage of big men, Geelong promoted big man Shane Mumford earlier this season – providing hope to Moles and his fellow rookies that there is a light at the end of the tunnel that the prospect of senior AFL football is never far from reach.

He also only had to look to Cats Shannon Byrnes, Jason Davenport and Max Rooke for inspiration as to how to work oneself from rookie to a spot on an AFL senior list.

“My goal is to have a good year and hopefully get elevated,” Moles said.

Unlike Mumford, however, Moles is a 183cm forward with the ability to play through the middle of the ground.

Geelong picked him up last year after noticing his sound kicking in front of goal that made him a standout at VFL level.

Now, after seven months in an AFL environment, Moles believes he has improved.

“I feel like I’ve improved heaps from where I was last year,” he said.

“In everything, my kicking, the way I attack the ball, my footy smarts and how to play footy. In previous years with Tassie, I sort of didn’t know how to tackle the proper way, so just little things like that have just improved my game heaps.

“Getting balls at ground level and things like that, I’ve learned heaps since coming here.”

Moles said mixing with the likes of Gary Ablett, Jimmy Bartel and Joel Corey had also assisted his development.

While 12 months ago his mid-week routine would involve simply rocking up to work followed by training with Tasmania, these days he often finds himself sitting alongside All-Australian Corey as the pair assess his match from the previous weekend.

He believes it’s all helped make him become a better, more-complete footballer.

And he is not the only one seeing the benefits.

Geelong’s VFL coach, Leigh Tudor, said while Moles has always been blessed with neat disposal he had added extra strings to his bow this year.

“He’s winning his own ball which he probably hasn’t done in the past,” Tudor said.

“Brodie’s always been a beautiful kick and I think all his coaches have always wanted him to get on the end of the handball because he’s such a beautiful user of the ball.

“But he’s come to Geelong this year and he’s really making a big effort to win his own ball and he’s doing that really well.”

His versatility is also likely to stand him in good stead should it ever come to crunch time between he and another on the Geelong list.

Competition is rife for spots on any AFL list, and possibly most fierce at the Cattery.

“He’s strong and he’s got good skills … there’s a few areas that he needs to improve on which he’s working on,” he said.

“It’s such a competitive list that you need to be playing good football all the time.”