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February 03, 2007
The Review: Week 8 (December 14th - December 20th)
With it getting close to Christmas nothing much was going on down at Skilled Stadium, except for this article about Mark Thompson and the upcoming season's importance on his position;
Timing is everythingGeelong coach Mark Thompson concedes his time is running out to deliver Cats supporters that elusive premiership.
As he prepares for his eighth season at the helm of the Cats, Thompson said he was aware he was close to the end of his tenure as coach.
"No, I don't think I've got a fair bit of time, it's getting pretty close," he said.
"We've got to have a better year than last year."
Thompson said he wouldn't set an expectation for a result that, if not met in 2007, would see him walk away from Skilled Stadium at season's end.
He said he didn't know whether it would be his decision, or the club's, that would see him continue on after next season.
"I've got no idea. All we've got to do is win some games. (We'll) see what happens after that," he said.
As the Cats prepare for their final training week before the Christmas break, the coach said he had been impressed by the performance of Brent Prismall, Mark Blake, Travis Varcoe and Brad Ottens on the training track so far this pre-season.
"I like the amount of time (they're training), how often they're training, how much better they look this year than they did last year," he said.
"That's the plan - that they put enormous pressure on everybody that's in the team at the moment so that everyone works hard together.
"We're going to promote the guys who really deserve a game. Hopefully there's a lot of young boys that do make their way into the team."
Thompson said he had not set any team expectations for next season, but was looking forward to seeing some of his younger players flourish in 2007.
"I'd like to see (Travis) Varcoe play a lot of football. I'd like to see Tom Hawkins play, in his first year, at least five to 10 games. Nathan Ablett and (Andrew) Mackie you'd like to see play 15-20 games," he said.
Geelong's chances next season will again hinge on the success of its forward line, which Thompson says has more options than ever.
"You've got Ottens, Nathan Ablett, (Paul) Chapman, Gary Ablett, (Charlie) Gardiner (and) Cam Mooney at centre- half forward -there's six there," he said.
"There's probably up to eight or 10 guys that we would be really happy to play in the forward line."
One of those options is father-son recruit Tom Hawkins, who Thompson says is certainly being factored into the Cats' 2007 forward line structure, despite having to battle the weight of expectation that is coming the 18-year-old's way.
"We always worry about it - that we don't put too much pressure on young men -but in saying that, if he's ready to play we're going to play him," Thompson said.
"We're going to play our best 22 that we think's right to Win games and if he's part of that we won't be holding him back be- cause we want to look after him and nurse him along.
"If he's good enough to play, he'll play. He's been trained up as a forward -that's where he's going to play."
Thompson said he was very pleased with the club's recruits, saying they all fulfilled the club's desire to take kids "who can run, and run pretty quickly, and who are footy smart and can kick the ball".
"I think all the boys that we've got at the club are pretty strong in those areas we're looking for," he said.
"Hawkins, (Joel) Selwood, (Nathan) Djerrkura, (Simon) Hogan - good runners, good decision makers, can kick the ball well."
Yes Mark, we do need to win some games.
Posted by Sammy D at February 3, 2007 12:02 AM