Zach Tuohy has praised young teammate Oliver Dempsey after his strong start to 2024.
Dempsey, across two games this season, has averaged just over 15 touches a game, with an impressive nine score involvements and three goals in Round 1.
Standing at 187cm, the athletic mid-forward has proved a nightmare for opposition matchups.
“He’s one of those guys whose athletic profile doesn’t match their physical profile,” Tuohy told SEN’s Crunch Time.
“He’s gonna take mark of the year someday so I’m not sure if teams can afford to play a traditional small defender on him, but then you’re right, if you play a bigger body on him, he’s just gonna run them ragged.
“You’ve only kind of seen a snippet of what we’ve seen coming for quite a while which is an incredibly awkward matchup for opposition teams.”
Tuohy, a proud Irishman whose influence on the Irish contingent in the AFL has been immense, also complimented fellow countryman Oisin Mullin.
Despite just the seven touches against the Crows on Friday night, Mullin looks extremely comfortable at the level, spending quality game time in the back half.
“He’s a bit of a project player. He came over as one of Irelands already most established stars, he’s incredibly quick and powerful,” he said.
“He’s played that role back home of locking down an opposition’s best forward.
“He’ll improve and he’ll start accumulating the ball no doubt, he probably should have got used a few times last night on the overlap and maybe didn’t get the reward for effort.
“When you talk about power and acceleration, he’s at the very tippy top of the league”.
The Cats are set to take on the Hawks in a stand-alone Easter Monday clash at the ‘G in a bid to remain undefeated in 2024.