While the focus on Monday's pre-season clash between the Cats and the Hawks was on how new recruits Bailey Smith and Josh Battle would look in their new colours, a young Cat shone brightly and put his name in contention for the start of the 2025 season.
With Sam De Koning playing in the ruck and fellow young gun Lawson Humphries watching on after playing in the Indigenous All Stars game, Connor O'Sullivan took his chances and showed exciting signs that he is ready to take his game to the next level.
With Mark Blicavs entering the twilight of his AFL career, O'Sullivan showed plenty of promise in an encouraging performance against a star-studded Hawks forward line which included Dylan Moore, Jack Ginnivan and Mabior Chol.
Playing in a backline with captain Tom Stewart would fill you will confidence, and that confidence was on display, with O'Sullivan taking many telling marks and being influential in stopping the Hawks attacking forays.
Using his knowledge of the GMHBA Stadium to his advantage, he made sure he got into dangerous positions and was there to thwart Hawthorn scoring chains, frustrating the opposition.
He not only defended well, playing on a mixture of both small and tall forwards, but showed that he can also be an attacking threat, running off of his direct opponent and slotting a goal in the Cats 20 20-point victory.
O'Sullivan has made his second pre-season count, being a standout during recent intra-club match simulations, showing his full array of defensive tricks.
The Pick 11 in the 2023 AFL draft, he is looking to add to his one career game in 2024 and feature in a backline that consists of premiership players including Jack Henry and Blicavs.
The 198cm defender debuted early last season in Round 5 against the Kangaroos, having 11 disposals in an assured performance at AFL level.
After this performance, he returned to the VFL team where he continued to ply his trade and build his understanding of the game plan, playing 18 games in total for the season.
With the Cats having found another promising defender in Lawson Humphries this year, O'Sullivan will be aiming to replicate his promising form from last year and feature more prominently this year.
O'Sullivan will be hot on the heels of his teammates as competition heats up down at Kardinia Park, with the Cats looking to contend again this year.
Geelong open their tilt at the 2025 premiership against the Brisbane Lions in Opening Round, a rematch of the epic 2024 preliminary final.
