Jay Polkinghorne has had a simply remarkable season of football. 

Highly touted coming into the year, the emerging forward played Geelong's opening VFL game of the season and unfortunately suffered an injury, before returning in Round 11 and making another five appearances at VFL level. 

His stellar form was then rewarded with an AFL debut in Round 19 against St Kilda, with Polkinghorne not looking back and playing each of Geelong's last seven matches, including Friday night's Elimination Final victory over Carlton. 

It adds up to a total of 13 matches across the 2026 season, resulting in a perfect 13-0 record for Polkinghorne, who is yet to suffer a loss at either level in the campaign. 

The young star spoke to Cats Media about his first AFL Final, after featuring in Geelong's big win over the Blues at the MCG. 

"Definitely in the first 10 minutes, I was a little bit rattled," Polkinghorne admitted. 

"But eventually I got into the groove, it took me a bit to get into the game.

"The boys, they were unreal. It was a bit nerve wracking at quarter time and going into half time, but we settled those nerves and got going which was good."

The Cats could not have asked for much more out of the 20-year-old, who has now tallied 14 goals from his seven AFL games and has hit the scoreboard in every one of those matches. 

While he faced a significant battle against Carlton's key defenders on Friday, Polkinghorne continued to fight both in the air and at ground level, managing to register four score involvements and also laying an equal game-high three tackles inside 50. 

He was able to play a significant part in Geelong's forward structure, which despite only kicking their second goal midway through the second quarter, still managed to reach 100 points for the sixth time in the last seven weeks. 

"I think we just needed to bring the pressure," Polkinghorne noted when asked about what the forwards changed. 

"The first quarter and a half, we probably didn't bring that pressure.

"Then the mids started to get on top, the forwards were squeezing in on the game.

"That really helped us forwards to get good looks at it, that really helped."

Geelong's victory will now see them progress to a blockbuster Semi Final, as they prepare to take on the minor premiers, Fremantle, at Optus Stadium next weekend. 

With a spot in another Preliminary Final on the line, Polkinghorne said he is looking forward to the occasion and the build up to next week's battle. 

"I have never played footy in Perth, so it will be a good experience for me," Polkinghorne said. 

"It is something different, but we just take it day by day now.

"Recover, get into training, get ready and prepare."