BRANDAN Parfitt put up his hand as a midfielder of both the future and present at GMHBA Stadium on Sunday.

The second-year Cat stepped into the void left by Gary Ablett and delivered on his considerable promise.

Parfitt collected a career-high 28 disposals and kicked a career-high three goals in a breakout performance for the young Cat.

The former Northern Territory junior had never topped 23 disposals and had kicked multiple goals just twice heading into the game.

Coach Chris Scott was full of praise for the former pick 26 in the national draft.

“He is becoming really important,” Scott said.

“We had very high hopes for him the moment we drafted him and he was someone that our recruiters were hoping we might get and the only thing that has tempered our enthusiasm was the serious hamstring injury that he had last year.

Scott said Parfitt was a part of the Cats’ next generation of footballing talent.

“He is in that group of eight to ten players that we have got who are very inexperienced — under 30-odd games and in their first or second year — but we’re not playing those guys just because we want to bring some youth into the team and look to the long term, we’re playing them because we think they’re the best options at the moment.

“Brandan is certainly in that category and if he wasn’t our best player last week he was pretty close, and we don’t see any reason why he can’t continue to develop and approach the performances of some our more credentialed players.”