Geelong captain Patrick Dangerfield believes Sam De Koning is happy at the Cats as he lauds big pre-season
Sam De Koning enters the season out of contract with a new role. And Geelong’s captain says clubs would be ‘crazy’ not to ask the question after a big pre-season from the talented big man.
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Geelong captain Patrick Dangerfield believes unsigned tall Sam De Koning is happy at the Cats and lauded the “power of work” he has put in this pre-season as he prepares to take the ruck reins.
De Koning, 24, ended his 2024 campaign in the VFL after undergoing minor knee surgery in the last month of the season and was overlooked for Geelong’s preliminary final despite returning to play two state league games as veteran Rhys Stanley got the nod.
The 204 centimetre big man has jumped Stanley in the queue after honing his skills and playing as a ruckman – where his older brother Tom has starred – since returning from further knee surgery in the off-season, which Dangerfield described as “pretty significant”.
De Koning comes out of contract at the end of the season and this masthead has reported he is in talks despite rival interest.
He shapes as one of Geelong’s highest priority signatures along with younger brigade Ollie Henry, Ollie Dempsey, Shannon Neale and Toby Conway.
Dangerfield pointed to their re-signings over recent years as evidence to why they can retain De Koning, but said he would be surprised if clubs weren’t inquiring about him.
“I think we’ve shown over a long period that we’ve got a pretty good track record of keeping our players. In terms of (other clubs), I think that is doing your due diligence,” Dangerfield told this masthead.
“If I am any team, if a player is out of contract who you think could make you better, then it is like, ‘Yeah absolutely, you pick up the phone’.
“And Sam is an outstanding player, so I think you’d be crazy not to. But I think he is happy at the Cats, he is really valued as a person on and off the field and I’m hopeful he will be in the blue and white for many years to come.
“De Koning has been one who had a pretty significant off-season surgery but the way he has trained over the off-season, having spent a fair bit of time with him, he has really applied himself and put in a power of work.”
The Cats secured midfielder Bailey Smith from the Western Bulldogs over the off-season and have been linked to another high-quality ball-winner in Gold Coast No.1 pick Matt Rowell.
While Dangerfield said he had no insight on the reported meeting between Cats figures and Rowell, he implored the club to continue their aggressive approach given the unpredictable nature of the draft.
“The club has always been aggressive. Whether it is him (Rowell) or others, that’s the job of great list management,” Dangerfield said.
“That’s one of the biggest challenges when building a list is the draft is, by nature, unreliable because we are picking still very much kids that haven’t fully developed. It is a different system to what it is in US sports where they are coming out of college, they are 22-23 years of age and they’re a known quality.
“So that’s the challenge of the draft and that’s why, quite clearly, clubs with knowledge that you are in the market for free agents or new players, you are going after a known quality for the most part that had AFL exposure and you’re pretty sure what they’re going to bring.”
Dangerfield conceded even Geelong’s highly credentialed recruiting team – led by super scout Stephen Wells – have had their share of misses.
But he views Lawson Humphries, taken as a 20-year-old at pick 63 in the 2023 draft, as one of their best selections.
“I think he has been one of the great success stories of our recruiting department to be honest and our coaching department both equally deserve recognition,” Dangerfield said.
“But not as much recognition as Lawson deserves. He has embraced it from the moment he walked in the door and you are scratching your head a bit on, ‘How could it take this long?’ he chuckled.
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Originally published as Geelong captain Patrick Dangerfield believes Sam De Koning is happy at the Cats as he lauds big pre-season
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