‘They were slow out of the blocks, but came home like a steam train’ - is the best description of the 2011 Geelong VFL season. The Cats only won one of the first 11 matches, but then won 5 of the final 7 matches to finish 9th on the ladder with 6 wins, 12 losses and a percentage of 98.54 - the sixth best percentage in the competition.

This stat combined with the fact that the Cats lost 4 matches by less than 11 points, demonstrates that the Cats were not that far off the teams that will contest the 2011 VFL finals series.

In the 6 victories that the Cats recorded, they had an average winning margin of 46 points. The most memorable wins for the ‘Geelong VFL archive’ came for very different reasons. In Round 18 the Cats defeated eventual top 4 side Casey Scorpions by 128 points and recorded their second highest score since entering the VFL competition. While in Round 22 against the Sandringham Zebras, the Cats came from 45 points down late in the 3rd quarter to kick 8 goals in the last quarter and snatch victory by just 4 points.

The 12 losses came with an average losing margin of 25 points and the biggest losing margin was just 45 points in Round 6 against North Ballarat. Losses by 4 points (Round 7 - Collingwood), 11 points (Round 11 - Werribee Tigers), 5 points (Round 12 - Northern Bullants) and 10 points (Round 20 - Northern Bullants) came back to haunt the Cats later in the year. On top of this, the Cats trailed by less than 10 points at three quarter time in 3 other matches.

The VFL Cats used 44 players throughout the season with 12 of these players making their VFL debut. Amongst these 44 players were a number of standout performers. Jonathan Simpkin (18 games) and Joshua Cowan (13 games) were both named in the best players 10 times. They look set to fight it out with VFL listed duo Andrew McLean (7 times in 18 games) and Mark Corrigan (12 times in 17 games) for the 2011 VFL Best & Fairest award.

First year recruits Cameron Guthrie (16 games), George Burbury (16), Joshua Walker (14), and George Horlin-Smith (9) all made an impact in their first seasons at VFL level while basketball convert Ryan Bathie surprised onlookers with his quick development.

Another first year player Jordan Schroder was the leading goal kicker with 23 goals from 16 matches. He kicked 3 or more goals on 3 occasions and kicked just 3 more goals than both Simpkin (20 goals from 18 games) and the unlucky Mitchell Brown (20 goals from 8 games).

Very few experienced AFL listed players pulled on the VFL strip in season 2011. 3-time AFL premiership player Cameron Mooney returned from injury through the VFL, playing 6 games and booting 19 goals, while Shannon Byrnes also came back from injury to play 6 games. Mark Blake (6 games), Tom Hawkins (3 games) and Josh Hunt (1 game) were the only other players with extensive AFL experience to spend time at VFL level during the year.

In 2011 the side has been highly reliant on its group of talented VFL listed players, with an average of 9 VFL players playing each week. On most occasions throughout the year the most experienced players in the side came from the core group of VFL players. Co-captain Troy Selwood was a wonderful acquisition for the team and together with veteran Matthew Firman lead from the front at every opportunity. Experienced local recruits McLean and Corrigan both had outstanding seasons and have been nominated for the 2011 VFL Team of the Year. VFL stalwarts Ben Raidme, Casey Tutungi, Jackson Sheringham and Mitchell Cuthill all made a significant contribution while new recruits Jaxson Barham, Jack Shannahan and Garreth Phillips will be players to watch in the future.

All 17 players on the VFL list played during the season and father/son prospect Jed Bews from the Geelong Falcons was the only player from outside the squad to play as the 23rd player.

22 players who played the most VFL matches in 2011 (9 games or more):

B: Matthew Firman, Tom Gillies, Ryan Bathie
HB: George Horlin-Smith, Andrew McLean, Cameron Guthrie
C: Steven Motlop, Simon Hogan, Ben Raidme
HF: Jonathan Simpkin, Troy Selwood, Jordan Schroder
F: George Burbury, Joshua Walker, Jesse Stringer
Foll: Dawson Simpson, Mark Corrigan, Joshua Cowan
I/C: Jackson Sheringham, Casey Tutungi, Jaxson Barham, Tom Maas