Geelong could become just the second team this century to claim successive Rising Star Awards if young defender Connor O'Sullivan's current form is anything to go by.
The Murray Bishrangers product was among the Cats' best on Friday night against Melbourne, recording 23 disposals, 13 marks, eight intercept possessions, six score involvements and 10 contested possessions while using the ball at 87 per cent efficiency.
The performance came in O'Sullivan's fifth game at AFL level, having held his place in Chris Scott's side to start the season following a one-game debut campaign in 2024.
The athletic and composed 198cm teenager was taken with Pick 11 at the 2023 AFL Draft off the back of a stellar season with the Allies, who he claimed MVP honours with in the squad's maiden National Championships title.
Rated as a mobile key defender who can also swing forward, the Cats are already seeing the signs in their long-term investment of O'Sullivan to start the new season.
"It's difficult for very young key defenders to come in and play good AFL footy right from the start," his coach Chris Scott said on Friday night.
"It's not as if you can hide outside the contest, you've often got to come in and play on big, strong 10-year veteran key forwards. We've been reticent to throw him to the wolves in that sort of scenario.
"But he's a super athlete, one of the best runners in a team of good runners. That's saying something at 198cms. He has the capacity to play as a genuine key defender, but he can read the play well enough (to play elsewhere).
"The feedback we got from recruiters is he's a key defender, but he was a high possessions winner in his junior footy.
"He's a brilliant athlete to watch in the pre-season, but what appeals to me the most is his craft. He made it as difficult for Melbourne forwards as any of our backs."
O'Sullivan's latest performance, which came less than a fortnight after receiving the Round 2 Rising Star nomination, will place the Albury junior ahead of the pack for this year's award.
His favouritism follows teammate Oliver Dempsey's win last season, with the mercurial Cats wing-forward hybrid being the first Geelong player since club great Joel Selwood - who did so in 2007 - to take out the Rising Star Award.
O'Sullivan could be the third Cat to claim the Ron Evans Medal and combine with Dempsey to see the Rising Star Award won by the same club in back-to-back years for just the third time in its existence.
The last time that feat was managed came in 2001-2002 as St Kilda's Pick 1 and 2 selections from the 2000 AFL Draft - Nick Riewoldt and Justin Koschitzke - took out the title.
O'Sullivan's coach was one-half of the only other time a side has won successive Rising Star Awards, with Scott claiming the honour in 1994 - a year after one-time Brisbane Bear Nathan Buckley won the very first honour.
Geelong have had three Rising Star nominations since Dempsey claimed his nod after Round 1 last year, with defender Lawson Humphries following suit in Round 18 the same season.
The Cats had just one nomination in the 97 rounds prior to Dempsey's, with premiership tall Sam De Koning earning his in Round 11, 2022, snapping a drought after Cat-turned-Docker Jordan Clark's nomination back in Round 15, 2019.
