‘There is nothing like unearthing young talent’: Geelong boss Steve Hocking
Incoming Geelong CEO Steve Hocking has described the process of unearthing young talent as “one of the joys of being in football” as the club commits to regenerating while contending under long-serving coach Chris Scott.
He confirmed Scott’s contract would be extended beyond 2022 but responsibility for success would be shared across a refreshed football department.
Premiership hero Harry Taylor will return from Perth to oversee the fitness and medical team in a restructured football department led by football manager Simon Lloyd and a new head of development will be announced next week.
“I’m very committed to young people, having success … there is nothing like unearthing young talent. It’s one of the joys of being in football,” Hocking said.
Steve Hocking.
He said that philosophy of giving opportunities to young people would extend beyond the AFL team but to AFLW and all other parts of the football club.
“You can write that as big as you want,” Hocking said.
The club has retained Nigel Lappin, Shane O’Bree and Shaun Grigg in their coaching staff and added James Kelly and Eddie Betts to the team with Matthew Egan a candidate for the development role, and they will fill key positions to work under Taylor in the fitness, conditioning and medical team.
Hocking said the departures of three long-serving assistant coaches in Matthew Scarlett, Corey Enright and Matthew Knights gave the club the chance to reshape the way the football department worked.
“We’re looking to extend [Chris Scott]. He will be extended,” Hocking said.
“He’s in the top three or four coaches across the competition. If you have a look at, tactically, what he does game day, it’s exceptional.
“Now, what do we need to do to make sure that he’s got refreshment around him? We’re currently working through that.”
He said there was too much focus on Scott externally and everyone needed to step up including him as CEO, Lloyd as football manager and Stephen Wells in recruiting to ensure the load was shared.
Hocking, who officially began in the role three weeks ago, also identified the absence of the team’s best players at key parts of the season as an issue that needed to be addressed after the Cats were thrashed in the preliminary final.
Tom Stewart, Patrick Dangerfield, Jeremy Cameron and Mitch Duncan all missed key blocks of the season while Brandan Parfitt and Mark O’Connor were injured in the finals. Other key players battled injury concerns through the finals.
“We had so many players throughout the year, that were our top eight to ten players, who were unavailable at different stages. We’ve got work to do on that front,” Hocking said.
“That’s an improvement area of for us across fitness and medical and how that feeds into coaching and that’s part of what we’re currently working through. That is critical. You have to have all those parts working. You can’t just have the best coaching model.”
Hocking said the club would still contend in 2022, but he felt there had perhaps been too much emphasis on the now rather than the having one foot planted in the current season and another foot looking towards the future.
He said Wells had responsibility for getting their picks 22, 30, 32, 34 and 50 right to ensure the Cats laid a foundation for the future with a beefed-up emphasis on development an indication of where they were heading under Scott.
That was despite a trade period that saw them trade in 30-year-old ruckman Jonathon Ceglar and trade out Jordan Clark, Darcy Fort and Nathan Kreuger at season’s end with those three departures in train before season’s end.
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