PRE SEASON AND ROOKIE DRAFTS; ANOTHER VARCOE JOINS THE CATS
Ben Jensen 19 December 2008

By Ben Jensen (Between Edinburgh and London) GEELONG has drafted another Varcoe, Travis's younger brother Adam. Like Travis, Adam played for Central Districts but according to Cats' recruiting Tsar Stephen Wells, is more of a small forward whereas Travis was a midfielder at the Bulldogs. "When Travis was coming through he was playing more in the midfield, whereas Adam is a very fast, small forward,” Wells said. UPDATED 2009 GEELONG LIST

The Cats were originally going to pass on the 'Pre Season' draft but wisely decided to list promising NSW junior Ranga Ediriwickrama, who as a trainee had already designated as a Rookie list addition but had attracted interest from other clubs. Ediriwickrama is believed to be the first player of Sri Lankan background to make it to the main list of an AFL club.

The Cats picked up three players in total in the Rookie Draft, all midfielders; along with Varcoe the Cats drafted Bryn Wheadon (Ballarat Rebels) and Tom Allwright (Tasmania). Wells confirmed the Cats specifically went after midfielders with their remaining three picks, also with an eye on defense. "We went for midfielders; I guess (the) last couple of years in the drafts we’ve gone pretty big and even in the national draft this year there were two talls and a couple of guys who could play at either end. It was good to be able to get some guys that could play midfield and also perhaps a defensive role as well,” Wells said.

Like his brother, Varcoe is unlikely to make a huge impact at AFL level in his first season (not least of which he's Rookie listed). He underwent a knee reconstruction midway through the 2008 season so is still undergoing rehabilitation, but should feature at VFL level in round one 2009. Varcoe turns 18 on New Year's Eve, and will hope to add to his 64kilogram frame over the next twelve months.

With that, the Geelong list for 2009 is now all but finalised. Varcoe has taken number 46,

LINK 2009 GEELONG LIST

PRE SEASON DRAFT

60 RANGA EDIRIWICKRAMA (Geelong trainee / Pennant Hills, NSW)
179cm, 71kg, DOB 10/08/90

ROOKIE DRAFT

15 ADAM VARCOE (Central Districts, SANFL)
180cm, 64kg, DOB 31/12/90

31 BRYN WHEADON (North Ballarat Rebels U18, TAC Cup Victoria)
185cm, 91kg, DOB 22/10/89

46 TOM ALLWRIGHT (Tasmania U18, TAC Cup, Tasmania)
187cm, 86kg DOB 15/06/90