How Geelong plans to push its young players through pre-season

Here’s what the summer months will look like for fresh-faced Cats when they get back into proper training next week.

Toby Conway will put pushed through his second pre-season. Picture: Alan Barber

Geelong’s youngsters will return to official training next week on a series of individualised programs as the Cats alternate between a “slow build” or pumping fitness in “really quickly”.

The Cats got back together in part this week but will properly kick off their 2023 on Monday after having about a month off over Christmas.

Phoenix Foster is facing his first pre-season. Picture: Alan Barber

Gone are the days of all players being put through the slog of summer running together, with each player on tailored programs to best prepare for the year ahead.

Geelong head of development Matthew Egan said some youngsters such as Mitch Knevitt and Ollie Dempsey would be free to take in the entire pre-season, while others like Toby Conway would be on a different program after dealing with injuries in their first year at the club.

Egan estimated first-year Cats would go through “70-80 per cent” of the program if fit, while others like Phoenix Foster would take it easy as he handles a knee injury.

“Into their second year, players like Mitch Knevitt and Ollie Dempsey, they did nearly everything they could in their first year and had no injuries, so we build them up really quickly in their second year,” Egan said.

Toby Conway gets into action. Picture: Alan Barber

“Players who haven’t quite got through their first year, it is a little bit more of a slow build.

“Everyone is different, we have talls and smalls. If you are coping and you have got through a full pre-season and have no niggles like Ollie and Mitch (you do most of the running), then the third year players are a bit more advanced.”

Seen as a ruck of Geelong’s future, Conway will look to emulate fellow youngsters Shannon Neale and Sam De Koning in filling out his body as he heads into a second AFL season.

Egan estimated De Koning had added almost 14kg to his frame since he was drafted and would be able to focus solely on skills and positional work instead of spending his days in the gym.

“Shannon Neale, his body weight is about where he will be (all career) and DK has put on about 13-14kg since he got to the club,” Egan said.

“Those guys are pretty sorted but now their body is ready, it is about completing a full pre-season against the players in their position to continue to improve their footy.”

Originally published as How Geelong plans to push its young players through pre-season