Geelong VFL training squad revealed as local stars get chance to impress
Geelong VFL has unveiled its training squad — including 34 talents from the region. And it features the brother of an AFL star and three sons of guns. See the full list here.
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Geelong VFL has locked in its training list for the 2025 pre-season with 46 talents from across Victoria to lock horns.
Members of the training squad will be buoyed by Geelong’s selection of Cats VFL ruckman Joe Pike in last month’s rookie draft.
The Barwon Heads product spent a year with the Geelong VFL program before being taken by the Cats.
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The players training with the Cats hail from Corowa on the New South Wales to Portland in south western Victoria, and there are a host of new faces.
One of the most notable is Colac & District league sensation Charlie McCartin, the brother of Sydney defender Tom and 2014 No.1 draft pick Tom, who dominated under ex-Carlton stopper Ed Curnow at Lorne this season.
McCartin had a handful of clubs heading out to Lorne to watch him in action and the key defender played two games in Sydney’s VFL side, having been a part of the Swans AFL recruiting team previously.
Geelong Falcons prospects Dan Lowther, who tested at the state combine and Kobe George are also part of the squad along with sons of guns Noah Caracella and Alfie Wojcinski.
Caracella, the son of Brisbane, Essendon and Collingwood player Blake, played a game with Essendon VFL under his father, while Wocjinski is the son of three-time premiership Cat David.
Former Geelong listed player Osca Riccardi, son of Cats great Peter, also features after recovering from a serious brain infection last year that left him on life support.
Of the list, 34 have interchange clubs in the AFL Barwon region: 25 from the Geelong league, five from the Bellarine, three from the Geelong & District and McCartin in the CDFNL.
Two of those GDFNL are East Geelong products in Ben Crombie and Austin Mulvahill, while Oscar Barter has been rewarded for his strong season where he booted 45 goals in 16 matches for Anakie.
South Barwon boasts six players in the training squad, including Mathieson medallist Doyle Madigan – who wasn’t part of the VFL program last year – and Port Fairy recruit Oscar Pollock, while Bell Park has five.
St Joseph’s spearhead Paddy De Grandi is another notable inclusion to the training squad after slotting 61 goals in 20 matches this season.
The final 38-player VFL squad was finalised in March last year.
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Originally published as Geelong VFL training squad revealed as local stars get chance to impress
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