Geelong’s Shaun Mannagh believes draft alumni Ollie Wiltshire will debut ‘sooner rather than later’

One of the gems Geelong plucked in the 2023 national draft is confident another player who arrived at Kardinia Park in the same class is poised to have an impact this season.

Geelong coach Chris Scott said Barwon Heads product Ollie Wiltshire was getting hard to ignore at the selection table. Picture: Alison Wynd

Easter Monday’s three-goal star Shaun Mannagh is convinced Barwon Heads product and 2023 national draft alumni Ollie Wiltshire will make his AFL debut “sooner rather than later”.

Wiltshire had been playing with BFNL club the Seagulls, while Mannagh was starring for Werribee in the VFL, before both were taken in the draft 18 months ago.

The 22-year-old was limited to just seven VFL games with the Cats last year due to a pelvic injury but has impressed Geelong’s top brass in 2025, with general manager Andrew Mackie saying Wiltshire was closing in on a debut before the game against Adelaide in Round 5.

Wiltshire was also an emergency for the Cats’ Round 3 game against Brisbane.

Senior coach Chris Scott told the Cats’ website earlier this month that Wiltshire was becoming “very hard to ignore”, kicking seven goals from three games so far this VFL season.

Ollie Wiltshire with Barwon Heads teammate Brock Close in the 2023 BFNL preliminary final. Picture: Alan Barber

On Wednesday, when asked how Wiltshire was tracking, and with Gryan Miers to miss Sunday’s match against Carlton with concussion, Mannagh said the former Seagull was a genuine “excitement machine” whose workrate had soared since arriving at Kardinia Park.

“He can do some things that not many people can on the footy field, he’s awesome to watch,” Mannagh said, with Wiltshire also an emergency on Monday.

“He’s another one of my draft class (in 2023), it would be pretty cool if we could all play together.

“It’s a pretty amazing story.

“He’s put his name up, he’s had a massive off-season and really proved why he should be playing AFL.

“No doubt he’ll be in the team sooner rather than later.”

Ollie Wiltshire was taken with pick in the 2023 national draft.

The Cats appear to have nailed some of their 2023 national draft selections, with defenders Connor O’Sullivan and Lawson Humphries also arriving at Kardinia Park that November.

Meanwhile, Mannagh said Miers was “going OK” after being struck by Hawthorn’s Conor Nash and subbed out of the game.

“You never want to see your teammate get injured like that,” he said.

“We’ll wrap our arms around him over the next few weeks and make sure he is OK, he copped a pretty big knock.”

Mannagh backs in Bailey Smith’s passion and energy amid three fines in a fortnight

He may have been fined three times in less than a fortnight, but big name Cats recruit Bailey Smith is bringing something refreshingly different to Kardinia Park, Shaun Mannagh says.

The former Western Bulldog copped a $3125 – down to $1875 with an early guilty plea – misconduct tax for shoving the ball into the head of Hawthorn’s Jarman Impey in the second term of Easter Monday’s clash at the MCG.

In addition, he copped a financial impost for a middle figure towards the crowd who had booed him as he made his way to the bench after the incident.

The 24-year-old had also been fined for an obscene gesture to a member of the crowd in Adelaide after the Round 5 game, believing Geelong captain Patrick Dangerfield has been abused.

Bailey Smith copped two fines following the Round 6 match with Hawthorn.

However, on Wednesday at Kardinia Park, Mannagh said his teammates loved the “passion and energy” Smith brought to the club.

“We’ve seen a big difference to the way we play,” he said.

“He gets us up and about before the game, you start to feed off that.

“We’ll keep backing him and doing his thing, obviously it’s not a good thing that he’s getting these fines but I’m sure that hits his back pocket more than anything else.

“He’s been incredible (pre-game), even Paddy (Dangerfield), he’s brought the energy and I think that comes from ‘Baz’.

“Connor O’Sullivan as well, he’s having a great impact this year, they bring the energy and it’s hard not to feed off it.”

Mannagh said Smith’s incident with Impey was simply a “rush of blood” and didn’t think Smith “intentionally meant it”.

“It all happened pretty quick,” he said.

Mannagh, who used to struggle with nerves before games in his younger days, said “you can’t not get yourself up” with close to 90,000 fans at the game on Monday.

With 88,746 in attendance on Monday, it was Geelong’s biggest home game during the regular season in its history.

“I used to be (nervous) when I was a bit younger, now you’ve just got to have a lot of confidence in what you’ve done to prepare,” he said.

“It’s about enjoying it and embracing what it is, it’s pretty cool to run out in front of 90,000 fans.”

Originally published as Geelong’s Shaun Mannagh believes draft alumni Ollie Wiltshire will debut ‘sooner rather than later’