DEVELOPMENT of leadership in all areas of Geelong’s playing list will be a key area of focus for the Cats this offseason, as the club looks to get the best out of its big-name stars.

Geelong was forced to blood seven debutants last season as it combatted a plague of early season injuries, with the club hoping the valuable experience afforded to its young players will hold it in good stead in 2019.

Assistant coach Nigel Lappin is looking forward to seeing what another year of growth can do for the club’s young chargers, and what that natural improvement can do to help the Cats’ established stars.

“We feel like we’ve got a really good group of young players coming through from second to fourth year. We’re hoping those guys come back in really good nick and show us they’re ready to take the next step,” he said.

“We need to build middle tier leadership, so they can take some pressure off our senior players, so we no longer have to just rely on our stars to get it done and our stars can be who they are and express themselves in big moments in games knowing that that they have really good support around them.

“We (also) need to challenge our best players to make sure they’re in the mindset of improving and finding a way to make us better.”

Geelong received the fourth highest Brownlow votes of any side in 2018, showing its top end can match it with the best in the competition. The club’s improvement will have to come from elsewhere.

The Cats will add a large group of young players to its list this year, with recruiting and list manager Stephen Wells saying the club will select seven players across the national and rookie drafts.

Lappin is ready to play the long game with the new crop of talent, while the club’s second to fourth year players ramp up their on-field production.  

“Every time a new group of players comes in, you get a great deal of enthusiasm and excitement around that,” he said.

“We understand that it takes time to develop young players, we might get one or two that come in that are ready. We run a program that takes a long-term view of the athlete.”