Inside Geelong's recruiting masterclass as team filled with gems manages to upset Port Adelaide

Geelong is living proof you don’t need stacks of first round picks to contend. In fact, most of their side against the Power were picked at the back-end of the draft. Here’s how all 23 of them arrived at the Cats.

Running through Geelong’s 23 against Port Adelaide and where they came from makes the Cats’ win all the more staggering.

Geelong’s recruiting team led by doyen Stephen Wells has long been renowned for picking diamonds in the rough and defying the equalisation cycle of the AFL.

One user on X jokingly put himself in the shoes of a first-day Geelong recruiter.

“I drove nine and a half hours to find a mature age brickie in the third division of the jocks hotel hinterland league. He’s on track to win the Brownlow six games into his professional career,” they tweeted.

first day at the geelong football club as a recruiter. I drove nine and a half hours to find a mature age brickie in the 3rd division of the jocks hotel hinterland league. he's on track to win the brownlow six games into his professional career

— skunk works janitor (@CeBeGeBess) September 5, 2024

They weren’t too far off, either.

Mature-age draftees Shaun Mannagh and Lawson Humphries had the football world talking again last night, as they have over the past two months.

But that pair is just scratching the surface of Geelong’s recruiting and development masterclass.

Remarkably, 11 players of their 23 that achieved victory against Port Adelaide were taken in drafts beyond pick 30.

Mannagh (pick 36), Humphries (63), Jake Kodjashnij (41), Jed Bews (86, father-son), Shannon Neale and Gryan Miers (57) were taken beyond in the 30s or after in the national drafts.

Then throw in premiership players Jack Henry, Zach Guthrie, Tom Atkins, Brad Close and Rising Star winner Ollie Dempsey, who were taken in various rookie drafts. Henry and Guthrie, two important cogs of their backline, both joined the Cats via the 2016 rookie draft.

Close was picked at 21-years-of age out of the SANFL and has hardly missed a game since, while Atkins toiled for years in local footy and the VFL.

Former steeplechaser Mark Blicavs and ex-Gaelic football prodigy Oisin Mullin weren’t drafted as such, but they were signed as Category B rookies in the off-season.

Incredibly, Max Holmes (pick 20) and Mitch Duncan – pick 29 back in 2009 – were the only players in Geelong’s side on Thursday night taken before pick 30 by Geelong.

Gryan Miers was taken with pick 57. Picture: James Elsby/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Compare that to Port Adelaide, who drafted seven of their 23 on Thursday night in the first round: Connor Rozee, Zak Butters, Ollie Wines, Travis Boak, Lachie Jones, Miles Bergman and Mitch Georgiades.

Holmes was the only first-round pick taken by the Cats and it was viewed as an extremely bold selection at the time.

The Cats gave up their future-first round pick to Richmond on draft night to secure Holmes, who had played just one game for the Sandringham Dragons from 2019-20 – the 2020 season wiped out due to Covid – and was largely discovered from his form in the APS competition for Melbourne Grammar.

The blistering Holmes has certainly vindicated the Cats’ faith, with his qualifying final proving he is Geelong’s most important player into the future.

Then there are the trade moves the Cats have pulled off.

The most ridiculous on paper was landing top 10 selection Jack Bowes in 2022 and pick seven for a future third rounder in a salary dump move from Gold Coast to get him of their books.

That same year the Cats swooped on two talented first round picks from the Geelong region in Ollie Henry and Tanner Bruhn.

They gave up pick 25 and a late first-round draftee in Cooper Stephens in a three-way swap to secure Henry, and offloaded pick 18 for Bruhn, who was taken at pick 12 by GWS back in 2020.

Captain Patrick Dangerfield also headed back to his hometown for picks nine, 28 and fringe player Dean Gore. Considering what the Brownlow medallist has achieved at Geelong, that is a serious steal.

But the biggest steal of the lot may be getting Stengle for nothing as a delisted free agent, earning an All-Australian jacket and helping them to a premiership the very next year.

Tyson Stengle was a delisted free agent. Picture: James Elsby/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Their biggest trade move paid off handsomely, handing over three mid-to-late first round picks for Jeremy Cameron, getting two first rounders back in return.

Even last year when the Cats had a quiet trade period, they still managed to land a quality player from nowhere

Talks went on longer than anticipated between Geelong and Port Adelaide over the Esava Ratugolea deal because of a late pick the Cats were after.

The Cats went on to take Humphries with that very selection, which ended up being the second last pick on draft night.

Whether it be Humphries’ rise from being “overweight” in the WAFL reserves, former basketballer and volleyballer being Dempsey plucked out of school footy, to Atkins toiling away in local and VFL footy for years, the incredible stories at the Cats are endless.

The Cats are living proof that you don’t need a stack of first round picks to contend for a premiership.

Geelong’s intent to always look outside the box with its recruiting has the Cats on the brink of more success this year.

And unfortunately for rival clubs and fans, their window doesn’t look like closing anytime soon.

Originally published as Inside Geelong's recruiting masterclass as team filled with gems manages to upset Port Adelaide