For a long period of time, Geelong has defied the urge to immediately throw their emerging talent into the furnace that is AFL football.

Instead, they have opted for a longer and slower approach, often giving their young players a chance to adapt at VFL level, a chance to ply their trade while learning the Cats' system in the early stages of their development. 

It is a concept that has been applied to many of Geelong's players, with the likes of Jay Polkinghorne, Jhye Clark, Sam De Koning, Ollie Dempsey and Gryan Miers all spending ample time in the VFL at the start of their careers, before earning a more permanent chance at the elite level. 

Connor O'Sullivan was another who followed the same path, only playing one AFL game in his debut season with the Cats before earning his spot at the start of 2025, now developing into one of the game's best key defenders in a short period of time. 

With a number of accolades already under his belt, the brilliant young Cat is now gearing up for his 50th AFL game on Friday night, which coincides with Geelong's blockbuster Elimination Final against Carlton at the MCG. 

O'Sullivan was quizzed about the patient start to his career, when he joined Kane Cornes and David King on SEN's Fireball this week. 

"It is a pretty good question to be honest Kingy," O'Sullivan said. 

"I don't want to speak on behalf of other players, but for myself I walked into an AFL program as a fresh draftee and thought oh yeah, I am just going to step into a team as I would any other team that I have previously made.

"I probably had to adapt and learn that over the first 12 months, that I was still growing into my body and that was actually okay.

"It was probably a good opportunity to spend extra time on my craft and that sort of stuff, that you probably don't get throughout a strenuous AFL season. A lot of the time it is about recovery and trying to maximise your game day performance.

"Nigel Lappin has been huge for that, but I think all of our development staff too. Mark Corrigan as well who heads the VFL program, their ability to get the best out of the younger boys by creating an environment where we want to utilise our strengths, but also want to work on things that we need to work on.

"That just enables us that when we do get the opportunity, to really want it. Sometimes you wait that little bit extra, obviously we saw Jay Polkinghorne this year, but when you come in you are ready and you are firing."

O'Sullivan was an intriguing prospect with plenty of talent when he joined Geelong, selected with pick No. 11 in the 2023 draft and inheriting the famous number 14 from Joel Selwood. 

After spending a year in the VFL, he rose to stardom with a brilliant 2025 campaign, winning Geelong's Best Young Player Award and finishing in the top five in the AFL's Rising Star Award. 

But in 2026 he has taken his game to even greater heights, earning selection in the initial All Australian squad and the AFLPA's 22Under22 team, statistically ranking among the AFL's best defenders in a plethora of different categories. 

As he prepares to embark on his second Finals campaign in the blue and white Hoops, O'Sullivan touched on some of the things he needed to work on in order to evolve his game. 

"For me as a key position player, it was my physicality and getting that strength and power," O'Sullivan said. 

"I was lifting a fair bit before I got drafted, but I didn't really translate that to a lot of power. I had some good long distance running but jeez, I took a while to get going when I was off the mark.

"That was something when I got to the club that I really had to try and work on, then I am a bit tall and lanky so I can be a bit iffy with my disposal sometimes.

"So I think just working on being a bit cleaner in general, then working on that strength and power was my focus over the first 12 months.

"Obviously it is still evolving and I am still trying to get better at it, but that first 12 months probably fast tracked that a little bit."