Despite the insistence of many that the Cats' controlled ball movement led to a negative style of play, Geelong scored heavily and often in 2020.
The Cats were the highest scoring team in the league through the home and away season at over 72 points per game, while also possessing the second highest average win margin at 32.3 points per victory.
With the acquisitions of 2019 Coleman Medallist Jeremy Cameron and 2018 All Australian Shaun Higgins, the forward group is only set to strengthen in 2021.
The Up and Comers
The Cats that didn’t feature at senior level in 2020 were left to ply their trade away from the public eye in inter-club scratch matches.
Dynamic Cat Nathan Kreuger continued to intrigue with his rare combination of size and raw athleticism, before departing the hub early for surgery after developing knee soreness.
First round draftee Sam De Koning dipped his toe into the water at the forward end after spending much of the season in the ruck and yielded instant results, booting a four-goal bag in an impressive sign of things to come for the 200cm Cat.
Francis Evans showed promise after his selection at pick 41 in the national draft. The nuggety forward already boasts an AFL-ready frame and combines tidy ball-use with a sharp goal sense.
Ben Jarvis cracked the AFL side for his debut after an extremely strong year at reserves level. The mobile forward tackles and marks strongly and works his way into space well.
Tom Hawkins
The Numbers: 21 Games, 5.43 marks per game, 2.33 goals per game, 1.10 assists per game
The Stats That Matter: 49 Goals (First in AFL), 23 Goal Assists (First in AFL)
Best Game: Round 12 v Port Adelaide, 6 Goals, 7 Contested Marks, 12 Score Involvements
Just when we thought the evergreen Tom Hawkins had reached the peak of his football powers, he took his game to another level in 2020.
Leading the league in both goals and goal assists, Hawkins was the undisputed best forward in the game in a season where many of his counterparts struggled.
Hawkins was simply too big and too strong when it came to one-on-one contests, brutalising his opponents and taking advantage of mismatches without mercy.
A colossus in the air, Hawkins took 75 marks inside 50, some 30 more than the next closest player Jack Riewoldt.
The boy from Finley was impossible to stop on the lead, taking 49 grabs to also lead the league in the statistic.
What Hawkins did on the ground is even more remarkable for a player of stature and size.
The 198cm key forward ranked second in the AFL for tackles inside 50 and equal first for groundball gets in the same zone.
Gary Ablett
The Numbers:12 Games, 9 goals, 12 goal assists
The Stats That Matter: Assists per Game: 1.0 (Equal Fourth in AFL), Fourth at Geelong in Average Score Involvements, Second at Geelong Average Inside 50s
Best Game: Round 2 v Hawthorn, 21 Disposals, 2 goals, 2 Goal Assists, 6 Inside 50s
The fairy tale ending for one of the game’s greatest players fell just short, but Gary Ablett Jnr’s final season was just like the man himself – remarkable.
At 36 years of age in his 19th season of AFL football, Ablett proved that class is indeed permanent.
Battling the diagnosis of his son Levi with a rare degenerative disease and supporting wife Jordan as her mother lost her fight with cancer, Ablett continued to play a meaningful role in the Cats premiership push.
A two-goal burst in the third term of the preliminary final will be many Cats fans lasting memory of Gary Ablett Jnr.
Sam Simpson
The Numbers: 9 Games, 28 Tackles, 3 Goals
The Stats That Matter: 13.89 Disposals per Game (career high), 3.11 Tackles per game (Career High)
Best Game: Round 6 v Brisbane, 27 Disposals, 5 Tackles, 13 Contested Possessions
Sam Simpson’s long absence at AFL level was worth the wait as the silky forward showed he very much belongs at the top level of the game.
A match-leading, breakout 27 disposal performance against Brisbane some 700 days after his last AFL game proved Simpson’s VFL apprenticeship had paid off.
Simpson won the VFL best and fairest in 2019, and used 2020 to leapfrog into the Cats best lineup and take the field in the team’s grand final side.
Geelong rate the smooth midfielder and forward so much he needed just one game at reserves level to prove his fitness for a Semi Final recall, after struggling with hamstring injuries.
Gary Rohan
The Numbers: 19 Games, 22 Goals, 11 Goal Assists
The Stats That Matters: 21 Marks Inside 50 (Second at Geelong), 22 Goals (Second at Geelong, 32 Forward 50 Groundball Gets (Second at Geelong)
Best Game: Round 11 v St Kilda, 3 Brownlow Votes, 4 Goals, 4 Inside 50s
Gary Rohan put together an incredibly consistent 2020, both in terms of his durability and output.
A three-goal Preliminary Final performance against the Lions and a four-goal best on ground outing against the Saints in Round 11 highlighted just how dangerous the ‘orange flash’ can be.
Rohan goaled in 12 of his 19 games and kicked multiple goals on six occasions, finishing the year with more than a goal a game for the fourth time in the last five seasons.
Gryan Miers
The Numbers: 21 Games, 19 goals
The Stats That Matter: 19 Goals (Third at Geelong), 50 Inside 50s (Sixth at Geelong) 4568 Metres Gained (Sixth at Geelong)
Best Game: Round 10 v North Melbourne, 2 Brownlow Votes, 4 Goals
Gryan Miers consolidated on his breakout 2019, solidifying his place in the Cats’ best 22 and continuing to provide a valuable source of goals.
The 21-year-old became just the second Geelong player to be named in the AFLPA 22-under-22 side in the nine editions of the team.
The crafty goalkicker earned Brownlow votes for the first time in his career, securing two votes for his four goal performance against the Kangaroos and another vote for his three goals against Hawthorn in Round 2.
Tom Atkins
The Numbers: 12 Games, 4 Goals,
The Stats that Matter: 14.5 pressure acts per game (Fifth at Geelong), 3.17 Tackles per Game (Tenth at Geelong)
Best Game: Round 17 v Richmond, 16 Disposals, 8 Tackles, 8 Contested Possessions
Atkins fell out of the side following Geelong’s qualifying final loss in Adelaide and will be ready for a big pre-season to reclaim his place in the side.
The dogged forward had his season interrupted by a rib injury, a difficult disruption for a player who relies on strong tackling and contested ball.
His 3.17 tackles per game for the year still ranks him as above average for his position, but the tireless tackler will be keen to reproduce the 4.78 tackles that ranked elite in 2019.
Brad Close
The Numbers: 8 Games, 6 Goal Assists, 2 Goals
The Stats That Matter: Goal assists per Game: 0.8 (Equal Fourth at Club), 1.3 Forward 50 Groundball Gets Per Game (Fifth at Geelong
Best Game: Round 8 v Fremantle, 14 Disposals, 1 goal, 4 Tackles, 1 Goal Assist
The condensed fixture and injuries to small forwards Luke Dahlhaus and Tom Atkins gave rookie Brad Close a chance to show what he could produce at AFL level and he didn’t disappoint.
The 22-year-old proved to have a clean pair of hands and a burst of speed that hold him in good stead as a small forward.
The Cat trailed only Hawkins, Dangerfield and Ablett when it came to goal assists per game and knows his role at AFL level.
Luke Dahlhaus
The Numbers: 16 Games, 7 Goals, 6 Goal Assists
The Stats that Matter: 1.4 Forward 50 Groundball Gets Per Game (Fourth at Geelong), 12 Tackles Inside 50 (Fifth at Geelong)
Best Game: Semi Final vs Collingwood, 17 Disposals, 1 Goal, 2 Goal Assists, 5 Inside 50s, 3 Tackles
Another Geelong small forward that battled through an injury interrupted season, missing four games with bone stress in his heel.
Dahlhaus recovered quickly to regain his role as one of the Cats’ first-picked small forwards and continued to apply his customary pressure in the forward arc.
Josh Jenkins
The Numbers: 1 Game, 14 Disposals, 4 Inside 50s
The experienced Cat didn’t get the clean run with injury he’d hoped for in his first season at the Cattery.
After a strong pre-season a back injury wiped out much of his season, with the former Crow unable to take the field until early August.
Upon his return Jenkins provided the key position depth the Cats had hoped for when it traded pick 37 for Jenkins and Adelaide’s future third round selection.
Jenkins replaced an injured Rhys Stanley and performed admirably in a Round 16 victory over the Bombers.
The 296-goal veteran will look to add to his games total in 2021 with a cleaner bill of health.
Esava Ratugolea
The Numbers: 12 Games, 5 Goals, 17 Contested Marks
The Stats That Matter: 1.4 Contested Marks Per Game (Second at Geelong),
Best Game: Round 17 v Richmond, 2 Goals, 5 Contested Marks
When the Esava Ratugolea is on song, the flying Fijian can be one of the most devastating forwards in the competition.
He demonstrated his ability to take hold of a football game in Round 17, taking a match and career high five contested marks as he climbed high time and time again on the Gold Coast.
The developing 22-year-old will hope to channel that performance and rediscover his best form after falling out of the side and recording his lowest goal per game average thus far since his debut in 2018.
