Cats rookie Jack Henry has been rewarded for his pre-season to date, but is the first to admit just how hard it’s been.

The 18-year-old had his first taste of AFL football last week in Launceston as part of the JLT Community Series, spending more than half the game on ground and coming away with a goal to his name.

Speaking to the Geelong Advertiser, Henry reflected on how his first pre-season prepared him for that first hit out.

“It’s been difficult,” Henry admitted.

“I think fitness wise I’ve been pretty good but in the gym I’ve had to work a lot harder with the weights.”

“With the frequency of training, usually you have a day off in between training sessions as a junior. The frequency is probably the hardest thing to get used to, but I found I got through it well [and it has obviously paid off for me].”

“We do a lot more longer distance running which is different to what my athletics was, so it wasn’t a real pivotal factor in having a good pre-season. It was just getting through session by session and working with all the coaches looking at vision and trying to improve.”

The former Geelong Falcon has looked to soak up as much knowledge as possible since arriving at Simonds Stadium last November and his selection in last week’s matchup with Hawthorn proves he is on the right path.

Henry is also quick to thank those who have steered him through the start of what is hoped to be a long career with Geelong – especially a veteran defender. 

“I’ve mainly worked with Shane O’Bree, he works a lot with us first year boys. We watch all the vision with him but you work with Nigel Lappin and Matthew Knights as well,” Henry said.

“Tom Lonergan has been a really big help for me, I play on him a fair bit and he has step-by-step coached me through patterns to run and stuff like that which has been really helpful.”

“He has been a really good teacher and it’s been great being close to him.”