Young guns leading the way in Geelong’s early pre-season form

After getting a taste of AFL in their first year at Geelong, a young pair has hit the ground running to start this pre-season.

Mitch Knevitt has dived into pre-season in strong form.

Second-year Cats Mitch Knevitt and Ollie Dempsey have pushed themselves towards the front to start Geelong’s pre-season as they search for more game time next year.

Drafted in late 2021, Dempsey and Knevitt were able to power through their first year in the AFL system without any major injury hiccups, with each of them playing two games at the top level in 2022.

Ollie Dempsey and Mitch Knevitt almost collide.

The blond teens were pushed out as Geelong steadied its best team mid-year on the way to the flag, but returned to a second pre-season without any niggles and ready to push their case again.

Geelong’s head of player development Matthew Egan said the pair were “both right up there in the running for the whole group” and the Cats would make use of their aerobic power in 2023.

“They are both naturally really good runners, that is why we played Mitch Knevitt a lot on the wing (in 2022) because he just runs and is a really hard worker,” Egan said.

“In the under-18s he played inside mid but we think he has some really great traits that fit on the wing really nicely so he is a natural runner and an extremely hard worker when he is in the game.

Ollie Dempsey on the track.

“Ollie Dempsey is probably more of a half-forward who we pushed up to the wing because of his work ethic. As a half-forward he would work right to the end of the ground and sprint back to the forward line.

“He had a great season in the VFL, (head coach Chris Scott) really likes players who can play multiple positions so Ollie played some half-back as well. We don’t pigeonhole them and say ‘you are only a half-forward’. It is always good to learn some different positions.”

Mitch Knevitt had a taste of AFL in 2022.

Also drafted last year, Toby Conway, Flynn Kroeger, James Willis and Cooper Whyte each had interrupted seasons due to injury and were set to slowly improve their fitness this summer.

“We build them up a bit slower because really, we want to see them play footy,” Egan said.

“We don’t want to build them up quickly so they break and they don’t play any games because you learn the most about them when they are out there playing.”

Originally published as Young guns leading the way in Geelong’s early pre-season form