The improvement and rise of Geelong in 2016 has buoyed Cats list manager Stephen Wells on the eve of a trade period which many feel will see record player movement.

Having missed the finals for the first time in nine years, the Cats were aggressive some twelve months ago in recruiting midfielders Patrick Dangerfield and Scott Selwood, along with ruckman Zac Smith and swingman Lachie Henderson.

That strategy paid immediate dividends as all four recruits made significant contributions to see Geelong finish second at the conclusion of the home and away season and ultimately fall short in a heavy preliminary loss to Sydney.

Speaking exclusively to Cats Media, Wells says despite the sour endnote it was a positive season.

“The team obviously improved a lot,” Wells said.

“To go from tenth to second on the ladder before finals and finishing third overall, it was a big improvement.”

Dangerfield alone put together the best season of his career to date, winning the Brownlow Medal, AFL Players’ MVP award, All-Australian honours and the Carji Greeves medal as Geelong’s club champion.

Henderson also elevated his standing in the game to become a calm and collected focal point in defence for the Cats, whilst Scott Selwood finally overcame a debilitating ankle injury which had at one stage threatened his career.

Even Zac Smith found consistency at AFL level, playing predominately as Geelong’s number one ruckman.

“We knew that the four players coming in were going to bring something to those areas we needed to improve,” Wells said.

“All of them were able to contribute very well. You’re always hopeful, without any preconceived ideas of how we’re going to be compared to the rest of the competition – because we know the rest of the competition is also trying to improve.”

All four recruits had played at least four seasons of senior football and thus were known commodities to Wells and his recruiting team.

And whilst the four all played pivotal roles in the Cats’ return to September, Wells was even more pleased with the draftees James Parsons, Ryan Gardner, Wylie Buzza and Matthew Hayball, who all showed encouraging signs in their first season at Simonds Stadium.

“The impact that the senior recruits had was obvious to everybody, but we were really impressed with the way the draftees handled the year,” Wells noted.

“There was definite improvement in all of them and their development is headed in the right direction.”

“They’ve still got a long way to go but overall, we think there were some really positive improvements.”

Stay tuned to geelongcats.com.au as we bring you further insight from Stephen Wells regarding the Cats’ trading and draft strategy, targets and areas of improvement.