Collingwood the start of a hellish opening draw for Geelong

Captain Joel Selwood says a summer of change has Geelong ready for a hellish six-week start to the season, beginning with Collingwood on Friday night.

Captain Joel Selwood says a summer of change has Geelong ready for a hellish six-week start to the season, beginning with Collingwood on Friday night.

Geelong’s early draw pits it against last year’s grand ­finalists West Coast and the Magpies, fellow finalists ­Melbourne, Hawthorn and Greater Western Sydney, and Adelaide away.

Not only have the Cats turned over almost a third of their list, they have rejigged their forward line, ramped up their pressure and worked hard on their ­communication.

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Selwood said the Cats are ready to take on the might of the Magpies at the MCG.

“It’s big. Friday night, great stage. We are lucky we have put ourselves in a position to be ready early in the season,” Selwood said.

“You have to move on (from elimination final defeat), but we had some time to work out what we had to change.

“It’s about getting hungry and the older guys came back to pre-season really hard and strong and Paddy (Dangerfield) and Hawk (Tom Hawkins) and Harry (Taylor) really led that.”

The forward pressure and swarming tackling was obvious in the pre-season win over Essendon after a summer of focus on keeping the ball in the forward line.

Joel Selwood and Patrick Dangerfield are ready to take on the Cats’ challenging start to the season. Picture: Getty Images

“We have had Luke (Dahlhaus) and Gary (Ablett) and Gary (Rohan) playing forward, but I think the way we use it into the forward line is something we had to change up too and you will see parts of that,” Selwood said.

“We just look a bit more mature and older down there and those guys play a huge role in setting up the young guys. In the past we have had a lot more juniors in our forward line and it’s been a bit too inexperienced.”

The Cats will sweat on a finger injury to key-position forward Esava Ratugolea, while Selwood brother Scott injured a hamstring in a VFL practice match on Friday.

Selwood agreed the level of change at the club was as significant as at any time in coach Chris Scott’s tenure.

“Yeah, you could say that,’’ he said.

“Last year we brought 10 blokes in, this year it’s 11. So to bring 21 blokes in during that period, five guys are only around from five or six years ago.

“The playing list has been tipped a fair bit, so it’s quite a new list in itself. People speak of finals experiences, but a lot of guys weren’t part of it.

“But I think we have made changes that will make us better.”