Geelong has ‘absolute trust’ its players will return ready for premiership repeat

One thing caught assistant coach James Kelly’s eye in pre-season and it is a key reason why he believes Geelong can repeat as premiers for the first time in 70 years.

GEELONG assistant coach James Kelly has “absolute trust” the Cats will come back ready for pre-season and “will try and get our game better again” in a bid to repeat as premiers.

In destroying Sydney in Saturday’s grand final by 81 points, Geelong played virtually the perfect game.

Joel Selwood brings the cup home. Picture: Mike Dugdale

The Cats had talked all year about seeking improvement each week and working to get better and that goal was realised in the ultimate way as Geelong waltzed to the premiership.

Despite winning nine flags previously, the Cats have only ever gone back-to-back once, in 1951-52.

Kelly said there was an ingrained culture of seeking improvement and that wouldn’t change now.

“It was great (this year) the mindset about searching for constant improvement is important,” he said.

“Next year we will try and get our game better again.

“(We) got over that first hump in the first final and they just played better and better footy as the game wore on (in the grand final) and they kept playing the right way so I am really proud of them.”

The Cats smashed the Swans. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Kelly began again at Geelong before last pre-season, returning to the club he played in three premierships for.

He said he was impressed from the outset about the standards at training and knew that would be repeated again in a couple of months when pre-season starts once more.

“I have absolute trust in that,” Kelly said.

“Just the way they embraced training in November and December, everyone came back fit and enthusiastic and they were willing to learn. That is all you can ask for from the players, that they show up and train hard and they did that every day this year and there wasn’t really a time as coaches where we had to challenge them about the way they were training or preparing.

“The effort for Geelong players is implied, we assume they will give good effort and they did.”

Having celebrated three flags as a player, Kelly was relaxed in the corner of the changerooms on Saturday night, quietly enjoying a beer and soaking up the moment.

“I’m just so happy for the boys. The amount of work they put in for a really long time, to see them walking around with medals around their necks and smiles on their faces, it’s a great feeling,” he said.

Originally published as Geelong has ‘absolute trust’ its players will return ready for premiership repeat