PREMIERSHIP winning captain Cameron Ling was impressed by what he saw from Sam De Koning in his first AFL game.
Speaking on Geelong’s official podcast, To the Final Bell, Ling spoke to fellow co-host Scott Gullan about what impressed him most about De Koning’s first game in the hoops.
“He was very good,” Ling said.
“I loved that he got himself in positions to mark the ball and took one nice strong grab. There are signs there.”
“His best is five years away but there is something there.
“All I look for in a tall player like that is, do they read the flight of the ball well and put themselves in the right position to contest the ball and that was absolutely yes.
“Now, he is going to be knocked out of the way by bigger bodies and they’ll give him a whack and his arms will collapse a little bit just because of the weight work, but all of that is going to happen over the next four years, but he was in the right positions and that excites me.”
De Koning's teammate Jack Henry, who was a special guest on this week's podcast was also impressed with how De Koning adapted to senior football.
"Sammy was great," Henry said.
"Even just getting to contests and making a contest, which is probably why he was in the side first and foremost, and it just helps our smalls get to work and that's something we'd lacked in previous weeks, so it was great having him in and he looked comfortable."
