GEELONG Falcons battled to a preliminary final last year, and promise to be just as competitive in the upcoming Coates Talent League season. We spoke to head coach Paul Corrigan about the Falcons’ preseason, top prospects, and the campaign ahead.

PRESEASON

“We’ve been pretty happy with our off-season. We did about four or five weeks pre-Christmas which was really good. We had a bit of an extended list before that. We did one cut pre-Christmas, came back and the boys were in really good shape after the break with the six weeks that they had.

“We’ve been hitting the ground running. We had a fair few little trial match (simulations). We finalised our list so we’re reasonably happy with the contingent of players that we’ve got… so we’re looking forward to getting started.”

TOP PROSPECTS

Xavier Ivisic
Midfielder/Forward | 180cm | 01/06/2006

“Xavier has been travelling really well. He’s had a super preseason, he’s really fit. He’ll probably play a bit of midfield with us and half-forward – that’s where we see him with his role continuing on from his 17th year last year.”

Zac McInnes
Key Forward | 196cm | 13/01/2006

“Zac McInnes is another one that’s in the Vic Country hub that’s been really impressive through preseason. We wanted to make sure of that off his season last year where he did his syndesmosis. He’s been good.”

ONES TO WATCH

“There’s a number of other kids that we played as 17-year-olds last year that have been performing really well and are really fit through pre season. Hopefully they can all put it together, the talent’s there, but you never know until you start playing games.

“I think guys like Lachie Jaques. Brady Hall is another one who has had a really, really good preseason. There’s a couple of bottom-agers too that have really stood out coming up from their 16s.

“Giuseppe Posterino has been sensational. He played Vic Country 16s as well. It’s really important that those guys keep putting pressure on the 18-year-olds for this year.”

2024 GOALS

“We’ve named a primary list of 40-odd players, so looking forward to watching the top-agers. I think we’ll be competitive. The profiling of our list compared to last year, we look a bit quicker and a little bit fitter. Hopefully we see some exciting footy from the boys. We’ll try and put some speed on the game when we can and just hope the boys perform well throughout the year.”

LEADERSHIP GROUP

Co-captains: Brady Hall & Lachie Jaques
Vice-captains: Xavier Ivisic & Zac McInnes
Leadership group: Angus Hanley & Liam Kershaw

ROUND 1

vs. Dandenong Stingrays @ Deakin University
Sunday March 24, 1:00pm

>> Season Preview: Dandenong Stingrays