Geelong’s recruiting strategy has been praised in the wake of the club’s premiership success.
The Cats won a first flag since 2011 when destroying the Sydney Swans to the tune of 81 points at the MCG on Saturday.
Amongst the team of 23 who played on the day, there were a bunch of players who were initially rookie-listed by the Cats before emerging as quality senior footballers.
Jack Henry, Mark Blicavs, Brad Close, Zach Guthrie, Tom Atkins and Mark O’Connor (international rookie) were all rookie selections who became key contributors in a flag, in similar fashion to Richmond’s rookie-laden list that won three premierships between 2017 and 2020.
AFL Media’s Riley Beveridge discussed Geelong’s shrewd investments on AFL Trade Radio’s The Early Trade.
“The aspect of this that is underrated, and Richmond did it really well, you go back to those Richmond sides of ‘17, ‘19 and ‘20, nailing rookie picks because it’s for nothing,” he said.
“Jack Henry, Mark Blicavs, Brad Close, Zach Guthrie, Tom Atkins were all rookies, Mark O’Connor was an international signing.
“So many players who played on the weekend and played really important roles for them were just flyers. These are players that clubs not only overlooked at the draft but overlooked multiple times because they got through to the rookie draft.
“So many of them in themselves were players that were on Geelong’s books from a VFL sense. I look at someone like a Tom Atkins who had that incredible VFL year in 2018 where he registered the third most tackles across the entire season in history of the VFL.
“No one took a chance on him and Geelong was willing to. For the first four or five years of his career he played as a small defender and a small forward, and this year he got the opportunity to do what he’d done in the VFL side in 2018 and played in the midfield. He was just about one of their best midfielders all year.
“They’ve nailed those picks as well which is so important to building a list.”
Kane Cornes added that Geelong’s ability to bring in players from other clubs, whether they were established stars or not, has also contributed to their 2022 flag.
Norm Smith Medallist Isaac Smith, Brownlow Medallist Patrick Dangerfield, former Giants star Jeremy Cameron, plus Zach Tuohy, Gary Rohan, Rhys Stanley and Tyson Stengle all came from rival clubs.
Cornes also highlighted the selection of four-time All-Australian defender Tom Stewart at pick 40 in the 2016 draft as a mature-age recruit as one of the best picks he can remember.
“It’s amazing when you look through some of the shrewd picks,” Cornes said.
“The Tom Stewart pick could be the best draft pick of all-time. When you look at that, the four All-Australians, what he has done. Pick 40 in 2016.
“Everyone must be going, ‘Why did we not see in this guy what Geelong saw?’
“You look at Tyson Stengle. His career was essentially finished after Adelaide delisted him.
“The lesson is, there’s no one way to build a premiership squad. It’s not just get as many first-round draft picks as we can and then wait five, six, seven years and that will come to fruition.
“You need those elite players, you need players from other clubs as Geelong have seen, you need the rookie picks, you need the delisted free agents and you need those clever late picks that you can get.
“Rhys Stanley, Patrick Dangerfield, Tuohy, Rohan, Cameron, Isaac Smith, Stengle have all come from other clubs.
“And other than Cameron, they didn’t have to give up a lot to get those players in.”