GEELONG'S VFL Bankers hustled themselves back into contention against the VFL Pies on Saturday morning.

With a combination of VFL and AFL-listed on-field at the AIA Vitality Centre, the Cats made up for a slow start in the second half finishing a goal shy of the Pies at the final siren.

Mark Corrigan spoke to Cats Media following the final practice hitout before the season proper kicks off.

Mark Corrigan on… the third practice match of the year

"Some really positive components to come of it. I thought our last 10 to 12 minutes to keep playing the right way and give ourselves a chance to win the game was, from my end, extremely positive and shows sort of the mental grit from this group to keep fighting. There's a lot to work with moving forward.

The contest for us was a strength and ability to win ball from stoppage, take territory out of that and go forward. I think we had more inside fifties and won the clearance battle. So two real positives to come out of the game."

Mark Corrigan on… the learnings from the practice matches heading into 2023

" I think out of those practice matches we've got some clear focus areas to keep growing in, but we've also seen when we play a predictable brand of footy that it comes off and it's really efficient. So the boys have been exposed to that and I think it's now just minimising those times where we're potentially going away from the way we want to play, then just trying to get that momentum back. But for us I think contest was really strong throughout the three praccys, then we also just need to keep honing in defensively what that looks like in transition."

Mark Corrigan on… the addition of AFL-listed players

"It helps your predictability - those guys know the system and the way they want to play and they’re obviously professional footballers, they bring a level of cleanness and those fundamentals they just execute over and over again. So I thought we saw that today and I thought guys like Ollie Dempsey and Ted Clohesy really sort of stood out in that bracket in terms of being clean and strong in the contest, but then being able to impact the game - which is great to see."

Mark Corrigan on… developing VFL players 

"Guys like Jamie Van De Heuvel early down back was really strong and Brayden Ham out on the wing. So, some really positive signs for those guys who are hitting their straps at the right time."