From too old and too many blown chances, Geelong are now too good and too stacked with talent.
While labeling trade winners and losers is always a fraught exercise, the newly- crowned AFL premiers clearly are at the right end of the ledger.
The Cats capped a bountiful trade period on Wednesday night by sealing a late three-way deal that brought in Ollie Henry from Collingwood to join his brother Jack.
The day before, Cats list manager Andrew Mackie had a tough conversation with the Henry parents to prepare them when it looked like the negotations with the Magpies might not bear fruit.
They earlier recruited Tanner Bruhn from GWS and were the beneficiaries of Gold Coast’s salary dump as they picked up Jack Bowes and the No.7 draft pick.
Geelong also dictated terms on big man Esava Ratugolea, keeping him despite his wish for a move to Port Adelaide.
Significantly, Bruhn and Henry are 20 and Bowes is 24.
Coupled with the retirement of captain Joel Selwood, plus the departures of fellow veterans Luke Dahlhaus and Shaun Higgins, there’s less of an aged look about the Cats now.
(C) AAP 2022
