CAPTAIN Joel Selwood has backed Tyson Stengle to continue his eye-catching start at Geelong, confident the forward can rejuvenate his AFL career at the Cats.
Stengle demonstrated his undoubted skill last month with four goals against Richmond in a pre-season game.
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But he comes to the Cats after stints at Richmond and Adelaide, and off-field indiscretions during his time at the Crows.
"Without getting too deep into it, I would suggest people to go and find out more about where he's come from," Selwood said.
"He's fantastic, where he is. He's found himself back, he's 23. He's made a couple of mistakes along the way.
"I'm really appreciative of getting to spend a little bit of time with him and hopefully helping him on that journey.
"I don't feel like we need to keep an eye on him at all. He's going to be fine."
Stengle's game against Richmond showed if he can consistently play in the AFL, he looms as a handy recruit for the Cats.
"I smile when I talk about him because he's going to make us better," Selwood said.
"He has lateral movement that we haven't had in our forward line, probably.
"He has a goal sense for a young guy, a small guy, that we think will really help us."
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Geelong's big preliminary final loss to Melbourne and the state of its list has pundits predicting the Cats, who have been consistent premiership challengers, will falter this season.
But there have been wholesale changes to the Geelong football department around senior coach Chris Scott and Selwood said they are going into this season with a healthier list.
"I don't have the right answer and I've had this question come to me, year after year," Selwood said when asked about their 2022 prospects.
He notes they were doing something right up until half-time of their round 23 loss to Melbourne, which eventually cost the Cats the minor premiership.
"Against Melbourne we were 43 points up during the third quarter and we only took our foot off the pedal a little bit.
"The best side of the year ran over (us) and took control of the game.
"We still think our best footy can compete against them."
Apart from whether Geelong can break its 11-year premiership drought, another annual item of pre-season speculation is how much time Selwood will continue to spend in the midfield.
At 33, the Cats skipper says he will play where required.
"You'll see a little bit of that (out of the midfield) throughout the year, you'll see a lot of my play still on the ball, depending on opponents, depending on how fresh the side is, too," he said.
"We talk about health - a part of that is making sure you're ready to go every single week.
"We're lucky that we have a big group of players who can play AFL footy now. We haven't had that in the past."