Ollie Henry set tongues wagging with his performance on Thursday night against Hawthorn, and the performance certainly caught the eye of Dwayne Russell.
The 20-year-old finished with four goals as Geelong romped Hawthorn by 85 points over the first four periods at GMHBA, showing plenty to suggest why Collingwood was so keen to hold onto their talent.
Henry was ultimately traded on the final day of the trade period, with Geelong giving up pick 25 to the Magpies and Cooper Stephens to Hawthorn. Henry had only been at the Pies for two years before requesting a trade down the highway and was a first round pick back in 2020.
Numerous faces were missing for the Cats on Thursday night, including Gary Rohan. But speaking on a potential selection squeeze for Round 1, Russell believes Henry and Rohan can’t play in the same side given the similar roles they perform.
“I think Ollie Henry gets a game ahead of him,” Russell said on SEN’s Dwayne’s World.
“Ollie Henry is the kind of guy who can play on the wing… I probably shouldn’t put him in this bracket, but I think he might be better at Jake Stringer and Jordan De Goey at doing what they do eventually because I think he can play forward and he can play midfield.”
Henry also pushed into the midfield on occasions, flew for several marks and looked electric with ball in hand. A repeat of that performance against Brisbane in a week’s time would almost certainly see Henry play himself into Chris Scott’s Round 1 side.
The agile forward spent most of his Collingwood career ahead of the ball and booted 21.15 in 15 goals last season.
“I’m not going to put him on the could-be-better-than-Dustin-Martin bracket, that would be stupid,” Russell continued.
“But on a consistency basis, we’ve seen the up and down from Stringer, we’ve seen the up and down from Jordan De Goey, I think Ollie could be that kind of player but consistently, and that’s the brilliance of Dustin Martin.
“So if Ollie Henry can be consistent, I think he can play in the midfield, I think he can move up to the wing… I think he might be only playing forward at the moment because they kind of needed (an extra body down there) that could change up in time.”
Henry was one of a trio of Cats recruits that shone with the performance, alongside Jack Bowes and Tanner Bruhn. All three were far from locked into Geelong’s best 22 when joining the club, yet the club would be thrilled with the performance of all three against Hawthorn.
In the trade period the Cats received the trio and pick seven - which became Jhye Clark - while giving up pick 18, a second round and two third round picks, as well as three future picks.