Rookie Shannon Byrnes looks set to make his senior debut in Geelong's Wizard Cup opener against Port Adelaide in Cairns next week.

Geelong is likely to reward the rover for his scintillating form on the track over the summer by naming him in the squad of 26.

Byrnes was unlucky not to play a senior game last year after a senior spot opened up with Marc Woolnough's retirement, but another solid performance in Saturday's intra-club could all-but assure him a long-awaited debut.

Assistant coach Daryn Cresswell said Byrnes was a good chance of playing and likened him to Sydney goalsneak Adam Schneider. Schneider is another left-footer who burst on to the scene last year, playing every game and booting 30 goals.

"I think he'll (Byrnes) be very, very close to playing in the Wizard Cup so if he performs well this weekend and gets through injury-free I'd say he's a good chance,'' Cresswell said.

"We haven't picked the team just yet and there's another practice match to go but certainly Shannon has shown a lot of promise and done everything right over pre-season.

"He reminds me a bit of Adam Schneider, a good goalsneak, left-footer, got good goal sense, just knows where to go to get the footy and I think he could be pretty handy for us this year. Hopefully he'll get the opportunity to play and prove himself, he's a pretty exciting player.''

Geelong's onball depth, according to Cresswell - the Cats' midfield coach who played 244 games in that position with Sydney - is second to none, highlighted through the club's first intra-club hit-out of the year last Saturday.

"Bartel was fantastic, Spriggs was good and there's so many players that can play through there that it's quite unbelievable really.

"I've never seen a club with so many guys that can play through the midfield and also play in a variety of other positions.

"It certainly makes my job very exciting,'' he said.

"It's not too dissimilar to last year at Sydney I believe, because we lost a lot of experience. From what I can see there's a lot of young players that really want to grasp the opportunity and make a name for themselves.''