ALWAYS competitive, Geelong Falcons will run with a very young squad in 2025, with the majority of the team list being bottom-agers or Under 16s talents. The Falcons have less than 20 top-agers in the program for 2025, with Tash Heffernan taking over Mel Hickey‘s role as regional development coach while the latter is on maternity leave.

PRESEASON

“We’ve had a really good preseason. It feels like it’s quite long and we’re in that midway point now. We started off really strongly before Christmas, really good vibes and great energy and returning after what was a really long year last year. Obviously taking the role over from Mel in that transition period while she enjoys some maternity leave. We’ve just returned from Christmas with a pretty fresh, fit group. Worked through, had our camp down at Barwon Heads, the girls enjoyed some connection and conditioning down there.”

TOP-AGE VIC COUNTRY HUB MEMBERS

Stella Huxtable
Midfielder/Forward | 172cm | 22/12/2007

“Stella’s been in the program, this is her fourth year, she was a bottom-bottom ager right back when I started. She’s definitely a character. She’s a really competitive midfielder and a natural hunter so she loves that midfield role. We’ll try and add some versatility to her game this year and you’ll see her as a forward.”

Meg Lappin
Key Forward | 180cm | 21/09/2007

“We will settle Meg into the forwardline, she played most of her year there last year. She was our ruck rotation but we’ll slide away from that this year and you might see her not only working up the ground with her speed and repeat efforts, but potentially popping up in the backline.”

Georgia Tyrrell
Midfielder | 168cm | 04/08/2007

“Georgia’s very similar to Stella in it will be her fourth year in the program too. In and under, repeat effort midfielder. Will probably add some versatility to her game this year and pop her down back for a bit. Otherwise they’ve really come back strong, they’ve had a good break in the off-season, they’ve done lots of work over the summer and they’ve come back really refreshed.”

>> PROFILED: 2025 Vic Country summer hub

OTHERS TO WATCH

“There’s Charlotte Van Loon, sister of Ash Van Loon whose up at Sydney now, is really fitting that profile of not late developing, but gradual development tall who we played across the backline last year as a key defender. She’s come back super fit and she’s been doing lots in the off-season just with her fundamentals so it will be really great to see what start she gets.

“The other one who has really impressed in our practice game (against Western) was Alana Mulvahil. She played predominantly in the backline last year but she’ll transition into being a regular feature in our midfield group.”

BOTTOM-AGERS

“We’ve got Ava Bilyk who went to the Vic Country summer hub. She’s been biding her time to get into the midfield group which she will feature this year regularly, but she’s such a versatile player, we played her as a defender last year when we got access to her given she goes to Geelong Grammar. We managed the APS commitments for her and she will probably spend some time forward as well, so she will have plenty of weapons in terms of her versatility.

“The other one is Greea McKeegan who we brought through, she played some time last year as a bottom-age 16 player in our 18s group. She’s an exceptional runner with a 7:18 2ker, so she will play in our forwardline. We’re really excited to see what happens this year.”

STYLE OF PLAY

“It will be pretty freeflowing, we’ll try and run and carry a lot. Really just surging the ball forward, get lots of time in our front half. We’ve got some key position players this year with tall defenders and tall forwards that we want to capitalise on.”

ROUND 1

vs. GWV Rebels
Saturday April 5, 11:00am
Mars Stadium

“Really just looking for some composure and connection amongst the group. They’re really fresh group playing together with our bottom-agers coming up. We’ve only got about 16 top-agers and the rest are bottom-agers, so it’s a fresh faced group.”