Deep dive: Inside look at Geelong for 2020
He’s played just 28 games but this emerging talent is the most intriguing piece of the Geelong puzzle. Where Chris Scott plays the young gun will have a bigger impact on 2020 than any other coaching move.
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How do you solve a problem like Esava?
You can hear the nuns from The Sound of Music happily chortling that tune which has been doing the rounds of GMHBA Stadium over the summer.
The “problem” when it comes to Esava Ratugolea, who is one of the most exciting young players in the game, is figuring out where he’s best placed to win Geelong a premiership.
Despite there being plenty of bigger names at the Cattery, the 21-year-old who has played just 28 games is the most intriguing piece of the Cats puzzle.
Where he is deployed impacts on two key areas of Chris Scott’s team — the forward line structure and the ruck set-up.
The 198cm Ratugolea has shown in glimpses that he can do both at an elite level but where is he best served for 2020?
There are two scenarios which play into working out the answer to this question.
The recruitment of Josh Jenkins from Adelaide surprised some particularly given the Cats went small in the forward half last year with great success using Ratugolea and Tom Hawkins as the tall options.
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So this begs the question — can Jenkins, Hawkins and Ratugolea coexist in the same forward line?
The other scenario was born out of Scott’s clear frustration in his ruck department during last year’s finals series.
Rhys Stanley had put together an excellent first half of the season, probably the best of his career, but started to waiver towards the end.
Out-of-favour Zac Smith was given yet another chance late but failed to grasp it while young ruckmen Darcy Fort and Ryan Abbott made only fleeting appearances.
Scott’s lack of trust with his big men saw him pull one of the most controversial coaching moves of the season in the qualifying final against Collingwood.
Faced against the premier ruckman in the competition Brodie Grundy, the Cats coach left Stanley out and went with fullback Mark Blicavs at the opening bounce.
The move ultimately backfired with the Cats yet again stumbling at the first finals hurdle, losing by 10 points and more importantly giving up its seeding advantage for finishing the home-and-away season on top.
Blicavs had been the best defender in the competition over the first half of the season — the Cats were 11-1 at the mid-season bye — so taking him away from there in September raised eyebrows.
Which again brings us back to Ratugolea — ruckman or key forward?
“The challenging one for us, and where it is very important to our structure, is Esava,” Geelong football boss Simon Lloyd said.
“The discussion point is going to be, is he of greater benefit for us as a forward or as a ruckman? Just how it all fits is something we'll keep exploring.”
Losing Hawkins through suspension for the preliminary final against Richmond was fortuitous for Jenkins in the sense that it made the Cats realise they were short on quality back-up in the key forward position.
“From a list management perspective we were more vulnerable not having an additional tall on our list,” Lloyd explained.
“For us Josh has played as a key forward for many years, he understands the art of forward craft.
“Whether he is playing in the best 22 each week ... he knows he will have to earn his spot and he’s worked hard over the pre-season to try and put himself in that position.”
As for Blicavs and his versatility, Lloyd says that it will continue to be utitlised by a case-by-case basis.
“You could argue, was it the right decision or wrong decision in that first final,” he says.
“But then playing Mark Blicavs on the wing (the next week) against West Coast went a long way to winning the game.
“Collingwood was terrific on the outside against us in the first final, particularly Steele Sidebottom, so Mark Blicavs did a great job in that final and also gave us a lot of defensive cover as well.
“Then we were able to keep Richmond to a lower score (in the preliminary final) but we obviously didn’t take our opportunities at different times.
“That’s the beauty of this game, everyone has got different opinions but in saying that we also acknowledge Mark Blicavs is an outstanding key defender.”
The statistic which still haunts Geelong fans about 2019 was the halftime score of the preliminary final: Geelong 7.8 (50) Richmond 4.5 (29).
A grand final appearance was at the tip of their fingernails but they dropped it ... again.
Since Scott led Geelong to the 2011 premiership in his first year, his finals record is four wins and 11 losses.
No matter how you spin it, that’s not good despite him having the best winning percentage of any current coach at 69 per cent.
To be fair there were a couple of factors which conspired against him last September, with Hawkins missing the preliminary final while midfield star Mitch Duncan injured his knee in the first final which ruled him out.
But one player he did have was Tim Kelly.
Cue the nuns again . . . How do you solve a problem like Tim Kelly?
This is a serious problem as Kelly is no longer around. He will play in West Coast colours this year in what is going to be a gut-wrenching sight for Cats fans.
In the losing preliminary final Kelly was best-on-ground with 31 possessions and three goals.
He averaged just over 26 possessions and one goal for the season, finished fifth in the Brownlow Medal, second in the Cats best and fairest and was named on the wing in the All-Australian team.
Talk about big shoes to fill.
“Obviously he is a high-end talent and our preference would be to still have Tim Kelly on our list but we’ve been well renumerated over a number of years for losing him and will have three first-round picks in the next national draft,” Lloyd said.
“We don’t look at replacing Tim with one person so for us it’s the development of our players coming through.”
Young guns such as Brandan Parfitt, Quinton Narkle, Charlie Constable, Tom Atkins and Jordan Clark will see more midfield minutes while recruit Jack Steven is the wildcard in the equation.
The former Saint lost his way last year but the Cats are hoping his leg speed and experience can help in some way help solve their Tim Kelly problem.
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This story is part of Deep Dive, a new series taking fans into the inner sanctum and exploring the issues and opportunities of every AFL club ahead of season 2020. Our team of AFL journalists cast their expert eye over all teams, players and prospects to give you a deeper picture. A new club is explored each day until the first bounce on Thursday, March 19.
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Originally published as Deep dive: Inside look at Geelong for 2020