Geelong Cricket Club coach Eamonn Vines expects Liam Blackford and Callum Stow to press for higher honours

Geelong Cricket Club’s new senior coach has opened up on the challenges balancing playing and mentoring as the Cats sit on top of the Victorian Premier table.

Geelong beat Fitzroy Doncaster by 220 runs. Picture: Carey Neate.

Geelong is hoping to get the most out of some emerging stars pre-Christmas before potentially higher honours as the Cats sit on top of the Victorian Premier table after two rounds.

New coach Eammon Vines was in an upbeat mood after Geelong demolished Fitzroy Doncaster by 220 runs on Saturday, on the back of another spectacular spell from emerging left arm wrist spinner Callum Stow (4-17 off 20 overs).

After setting 377 for victory following a second successive century to Lachie Field last Saturday, Stow put the opposition in a spin.

His stocks have risen dramatically in recent months, after being called up to the Melbourne Renegades Academy for the Top End T20 series and has been seen as a replacement for Nathan Lyon for the Gades during the Big Bash League this summer.

Geelong celebrate a wicket against Fitzroy Doncaster. Picture: Carey Neate.

Vines said Stow and Victoria rookie contracted Liam Blackford – who missed last season due to injury and is back batting at number three for the Cats – would likely push for higher honours this summer.

“We expect that he’ll play a good stint with us, especially the first half of the season,” Vines said of Blackford.

“We’ll probably see a lot of him pre-Christmas, probably leading up to Big Bash.

“We’re kind of planning for him potentially to be playing higher honours.”

The Cats are also expecting teenage star Ollie Peake to be available in Round 3.

Meanwhile, he expected opposition batters would look to negate the guile of Stow rather than try to dominate, following a super tight spell of 0-19 off 10 in Round 1 against Greenvale.

“He really lit the season on fire with his bowling (last year),” Vines said.

Geelong product Callum Stow bowls against Bangladesh for the Melbourne Renegades Academy. Picture: NT Cricket.

“A lot of opposition teams are going to be planning to negate him a bit ... Greenvale were pretty defensive against him.

“He’s still managing to be threatening with the ball and taking wickets.

“Two games in he’s started like a house on fire.

“He’ll get cricket under him early and then we might miss him, again around that Big Bash time.

“We’ve got to start preparing how we’ll approach it.

“You want these guys to play at the next level, and I’m pretty confident that ‘Stowy’ will get some opportunities higher up this year.”

Vine said he was “loving” his new role as senior coach after being an assistant to Nick Speak in 2023-24.

“His understanding of running a Premier club (was great), he wasn’t totally focused on certain individual in the ones,” Vines said of Speak.

“He had a really strong understanding of different players and what they were going through.

“When it’s time to push people up grades.

Geelong beat Fitzroy Doncaster by 220 runs. Picture: Carey Neate.

“It helped me understand how to support the playing group in different ways.

“As a player, you don’t get to really see that.

“Also the time it takes to do that was a bit of an eye opener for me.

“A lot of the work you’re doing is away from training, touching base with players, having good plans, being consistent with the messaging with certain players.

“Working with the coaching group and getting them on the same page.”

He said finding the balance between playing and coaching was a constant challenge and was deferring to new assistant Jake Brown.

“I lean on him a lot to fill the void when I have to bat ... it’s been a bit of a learning curve,” he said.

On Saturday, Tom Neate also chimed in with 2-24 off 11 overs as the Cats denied any partnerships of substance apart from a 57-run stand for the seventh wicket

Originally published as Geelong Cricket Club coach Eamonn Vines expects Liam Blackford and Callum Stow to press for higher honours