this was in todays age...
The Geelong supporters who filtered into Baytec Stadium yesterday may have been forgiven for peering at the players and their guernsey numbers a little more intently than usual.
Not only were they coming to terms with a midfield bereft of Garry Hocking (retired), David Spriggs (relegated to the medical rooms with a serious knee injury) and Justin Murphy (gone to Carlton), but they were learning the names of a long list of little-known new faces, and envisaging a season in which 23 of the players carrying their hopes would be aged 22 or younger.
Although the most senior midfielder in Hocking's absence, Peter Riccardi, was rested from the yesterday's intraclub match, Cameron Ling, who dominated the middle in the second half, is among a group of Cats poised to take up where Hocking and other departed company left off.
Ronnie Burns, who burst from the centre in typically flamboyant fashion early in the game to kick a goal, and Aaron Lord made appearances in the midfield yesterday, but coach Mark Thompson expects Ling, David Clarke, Joel Corey and Corey Enright to step up in 2002.
"There's a whole group of us who have tried to take on that responsibility," Ling said.
"Obviously Buddha's gone and he's been a big organiser of the midfield.
"We're all trying to make sure that we now help organise the midfield and take over from where Buddha was.
"We've got some really good players down back who do that sort of thing, like Sando (Brenton Sanderson) and Tommy Harley, and obviously up forward Ben Graham's there.
"We all try to think we're the younger crew. We can teach the Jimmy Bartels and the James Kellys how we want to play and how we want to have leaders helping set up during a game."
Thompson said Hocking, Spriggs and Murphy would be "hard to replace but not impossible", and predicted substantial feats from 21-year-old Ling, a former Geelong Falcons captain, in their absence.
"He's come on tremendously well. He's a mature kid who works really hard and he's got a good feel for footy. I expect his improvement to be rapid. He'll play a big role."
The most electrifying moment of yesterday's match belonged to Geelong's youngest but undoubtedly its most anticipated player, Gary Ablett junior.
Early in the game, he gave off a handball at a speed that sent ripples through the supporters scattered around the stadium and, it seems, through the coach's box.
Later, Thompson admitted he was set to rush Ablett into the team to play Richmond in the Wizard Cup next Saturday, a scenario the coach admitted seemed unlikely a month ago.
"He'd be pretty close . . . He's done probably better than we thought he would do," Thompson said.
"He's our youngest player. He's only 17 and (nine) months old, and he's handled the contesting, the physical side of the game better than I thought he would."
Young Ablett's father was nowhere to be seen at yesterday's game.
Only Spriggs, David Wojcinski and Jason Snell are expected to be unavailable for next Saturday's match against Richmond.
And, if the practice-match form of draftees Matthew McCarthy and Henry Playfield, who has added six kilograms to his frame since he arrived at Geelong, was any indication, the search for quality future forwards for the Cats might be a little closer to completion.
"They're probably two years away," Thompson said.
The Geelong supporters who filtered into Baytec Stadium yesterday may have been forgiven for peering at the players and their guernsey numbers a little more intently than usual.
Not only were they coming to terms with a midfield bereft of Garry Hocking (retired), David Spriggs (relegated to the medical rooms with a serious knee injury) and Justin Murphy (gone to Carlton), but they were learning the names of a long list of little-known new faces, and envisaging a season in which 23 of the players carrying their hopes would be aged 22 or younger.
Although the most senior midfielder in Hocking's absence, Peter Riccardi, was rested from the yesterday's intraclub match, Cameron Ling, who dominated the middle in the second half, is among a group of Cats poised to take up where Hocking and other departed company left off.
Ronnie Burns, who burst from the centre in typically flamboyant fashion early in the game to kick a goal, and Aaron Lord made appearances in the midfield yesterday, but coach Mark Thompson expects Ling, David Clarke, Joel Corey and Corey Enright to step up in 2002.
"There's a whole group of us who have tried to take on that responsibility," Ling said.
"Obviously Buddha's gone and he's been a big organiser of the midfield.
"We're all trying to make sure that we now help organise the midfield and take over from where Buddha was.
"We've got some really good players down back who do that sort of thing, like Sando (Brenton Sanderson) and Tommy Harley, and obviously up forward Ben Graham's there.
"We all try to think we're the younger crew. We can teach the Jimmy Bartels and the James Kellys how we want to play and how we want to have leaders helping set up during a game."
Thompson said Hocking, Spriggs and Murphy would be "hard to replace but not impossible", and predicted substantial feats from 21-year-old Ling, a former Geelong Falcons captain, in their absence.
"He's come on tremendously well. He's a mature kid who works really hard and he's got a good feel for footy. I expect his improvement to be rapid. He'll play a big role."
The most electrifying moment of yesterday's match belonged to Geelong's youngest but undoubtedly its most anticipated player, Gary Ablett junior.
Early in the game, he gave off a handball at a speed that sent ripples through the supporters scattered around the stadium and, it seems, through the coach's box.
Later, Thompson admitted he was set to rush Ablett into the team to play Richmond in the Wizard Cup next Saturday, a scenario the coach admitted seemed unlikely a month ago.
"He'd be pretty close . . . He's done probably better than we thought he would do," Thompson said.
"He's our youngest player. He's only 17 and (nine) months old, and he's handled the contesting, the physical side of the game better than I thought he would."
Young Ablett's father was nowhere to be seen at yesterday's game.
Only Spriggs, David Wojcinski and Jason Snell are expected to be unavailable for next Saturday's match against Richmond.
And, if the practice-match form of draftees Matthew McCarthy and Henry Playfield, who has added six kilograms to his frame since he arrived at Geelong, was any indication, the search for quality future forwards for the Cats might be a little closer to completion.
"They're probably two years away," Thompson said.
