Geelong has finalised its category B rookies for 2021, with the club welcoming Paul Tsapatolis and Stefan Okunbor agreeing to a new deal to stay with the Cats.

Tsapatolis played junior football before focusing on a basketball career. He went on to represent Australia at both the FIBA Oceania and Asian championships. Tsapatolis helped Australia to the gold medal at both events, earning All Star honours at the Oceania event.

Standing at 202cm, Tsapatolis will look to emulate the likes of Mark Blicavs, Mark O’Connor and Zach Tuohy, all who began their journey as category B rookies.

“Paul was highly sought after and we believe our development program will allow him to maximise his potential as a footballer,” Geelong’s general manager of football Simon Lloyd said.

“Paul is athletic and agile and the fact he played junior football gives him a head start along this journey. We are excited to have him join the Cats and he is equally excited to get down here, meet his new teammates and begin the process to him becoming the best player he can be.”

Okunbor has shown vast development since joining the Cats as a category B rookie from Ireland. He played at VFL level in 2019 and fought back from an achilles injury this year.

“We see Stefan as still having improvement in front of him,” Lloyd said.

“Stefan had limited opportunities this year, but he worked hard and got better. We are looking forward to Stefan’s continued improvement.”