By Natalee Kerr
Geelong’s first to fourth year players returned to the track this week to kick off their pre-season training.
The players headed to the club for meetings and screenings on Monday before their first training session on Tuesday at Deakin University’s Waurn Ponds campus.
Among the returning group were off-season recruits Jack Steven and Josh Jenkins, along with injury-prone Nakia Cockatoo and veteran Mitch Duncan.
Star midfielder Patrick Dangerfield also laced up his boots for the session, despite not needing to return for another fortnight.
Tall forward Esava Ratugolea said the Cats were keen to move on from the disappointment following their preliminary final exit in September.
“Obviously we were hurting after that game, it did affect me (for) probably a week after,” he told reporters on Tuesday.
“But we’re just about moving forward, we don’t want to look back at this year’s prelim loss.
“We’ve got new players in, and we just want to start fresh and move forward from that.”
The 21-year-old said he hopes to improve his endurance and strength over the summer.
“I’ll be working a lot on my body movements and my bodywork, and a lot of my ruck craft this off-season,” he said.
“I want to cover the ground a little bit more this year – play a little bit more higher up the ground, especially with Josh Jenkins coming in.”
The rest of Geelong’s squad are set to commence pre-season training on 2 December for a two-and-a-half week block before the Christmas break.
