Geelong coach Chris Scott expects Bailey Smith and Tom Stewart to face Brisbane as Oli Wiltshire impressing
Oli Wiltshire was a long way back when he was drafted out of the Bellarine league by Geelong. But 18 months on, a debut might not be as far away as first thought.
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In the words of Geelong coach Chris Scott, Oli Wiltshire was another ‘Stephen Wells special’.
Wiltshire’s dazzling 51-goal season for Barwon Heads in the Bellarine league in 2023 — including a bag of 12 — caught the attention of the esteemed recruiter.
The Cats called the then-21-year-old’s with pick 61 in the 2023 national draft seemingly out of nowhere, although word suggests Wiltshire knew he was heading to the Cats well before the draft.
The exciting small forward had played seven games for the Geelong Falcons back in 2021, but he wasn’t ready for the rigours of AFL footy last year. Far from it.
“He was so far back when he was drafted, like a Stephen Wells special from Barwon Heads,” Scott said.
“With the greatest respect to that competition, he wasn’t playing at the highest level available to him. And really physically sort of immature.”
But after a year and a half at the Cats, a debut might not be as far away as first thought, with Scott saying he is “well and truly on the radar”.
So much so that Wiltshire is on the plane to Brisbane as a travelling emergency for Geelong’s clash with the Lions.
A pelvis injury restricted Wiltshire to seven VFL matches last year but his promising semi-final display against Southport was a sign of things to come.
The same dazzling traits that wowed onlookers in the Bellarine league have been on full display in Geelong’s VFL practice matches and their season-opener last weekend.
Wiltshire finished with 17 disposals, 13 score involvements, five marks and 3.4 against Sandringham, those three majors coming in the space of 15 minutes and all from general play.
In the pre-season games he was dribbling bananas from the boundary, kicking booming set shots and crumbing packs cleverly.
Scott conceded Geelong’s forward line is difficult to break into, but was full of praise for Wiltshire.
“He’s well and truly on the radar, he’s quite exciting,” Scott said.
“Now, I tend to get a bit nervous about saying those things, because then the expectation builds and nothing happens for four or five weeks, and the implication is that all of a sudden he’s not going as well. But it’s okay to be enthusiastic about Oli.
“Oli’s a forward and our forward line is pretty settled, so there’s going to be some challenges there getting him in at some point, but he’s doing his bit, that’s for sure.”
Cats cautious on forwards as emergency on standby
Geelong coach Chris Scott says he expects Cats stars Bailey Smith and Tom Stewart to both face Brisbane on Saturday night, with both named in the selected side.
Smith was a late withdrawal from Geelong’s loss to St Kilda with calf soreness, while Stewart was subbed out of the match with a knee injury, with scans confirming no structural damage.
But the important pair and last week’s substitute Ted Clohesy have all been picked for the clash with forward Shaun Mannagh to be given another run in the VFL despite Scott believing he is “ready”.
Smith replaces Irishman Mark O’Connor (omitted).
Jack Martin, who was withdrawn with minor calf tightness from Geelong’s VFL season-opener last Sunday, is “quite a way away” from AFL selection as the Cats carefully manage the injury-riddled recruit.
Smith completed Geelong training session with ease on Thursday, at one stage putting on a diving spoil in match simulation.
Stewart had strapping on his right knee and did not take part in match simulation, instead completing agility runs and leaping marks with the Cats medical team away from the main group through .
An emergency will be on standby for Stewart in particular, who was experiencing soreness earlier in the week.
“As it stands at the moment, we expect them to play... They will definitely be on the plane,” Scott said.
“And we wouldn’t do it unless we thought there was a really good chance they were going play.
“So I think we saw enough of Bailey to know he’s a lock unless something happens, and ‘Stewy’ is very likely I would say, but didn’t do as much work as Bailey.
“But we haven’t finalised our (team) as yet - we will do that (on Thursday) afternoon and then still have the 24 hours up in Brisbane to work out exactly what we’re doing.
“(Stewart’s) eager to play, but he’s a realist too. Like earlier the week he was he was sore, and it wasn’t as if he was saying he was sure he’d be right, it was more a case of, ‘Let’s see how it goes’.
“This is unscientific, and I probably shouldn’t say it, but my experience with him is his powers of were recuperation are amazing. So it didn’t surprise me to see him sort of bounce back pretty quickly.”
Scott said Stewart would be a certain starter for next week if he is withdrawn from the Lions, with Mannagh a likely inclusion for round four.
“A couple of weeks out, I was thinking this would be the week (for Mannagh). Just decided to give him an extra bit of time in the VFL,” Scott said.
“So he’s one who, he thinks he’s ready... I think he’s ready, but we’re going to wait. So again, likely he will play next week.”
Martin is expected to miss Geelong VFL’s clash with Northern Bullants on Saturday and Scott said they will continue to take a long-term approach with Martin.
“We’re not really thinking about the short term with Jack. So if he breaks a finger nail, we might take him out. It’s going to be a really slow burn.
“At the moment his VFL match practice, we’re considering more in terms of training load, rather than any sort of performance metric there.
“So he’s quite away from AFL selection, and we’ll just be thoughtful around when he plays versus when he trains. And hold me to it will be, we will be as transparent as we can possibly be around his return.
“We didn’t bring him in as a sugar hit for the last half of this season. We’re thinking a bit more long term than that. We knew it was going to be a challenge, but we’re really optimistic.”
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