Geelong star Paul Chapman has praised his younger teammates for taking a belting from Hawthorn and bouncing back.
Chapman and captain Joel Selwood were outstanding as the Cats extended the “Kennett Curse” to 10 matches with the Easter Monday seven-point win over the Hawks.
The Cats were missing several key players, in particular James Kelly, Steve Johnson and Joel Corey.
That meant the contribution of younger teammates was crucial in another epic clash between these fierce rivals.
It was a typically-bruising match, with Selwood and Hawks star Lance Franklin frequently bashing into each other.
Asked about the importance of Geelong’s younger players, Chapman said: “most definitely, and they sort of got belted up a little bit, too.
“Hawthorn are good at targeting your young blokes and they bounced back and took it on the chin.
“There’s always a hole when you have great players like that not playing, but to the young kids’ credit they stepped up.”
“When the chips are down you look for blokes who are going to stand up, and those older guys do it but our young follow as well.
“That was the most impressive thing our young kids followed and wanted to do more to make the load easier.
“All the credit really needs to go to the young guys I think.”
Coach Chris Scott also praised youngsters such as Billie Smedits, Steven Motlop, Jordan Murdoch and first-gamer Mark Blicavs.
Chapman said he was not sure whether Geelong has a mental edge over Hawthorn, but added another win over them was a great experience for their younger players.
“We never want to lose. Look, Hawthorn are a great team and you always want to beat the great teams on the big stage,” Chapman said.
“So it was probably really good for our young blokes.
“We probably had four or five who hadn’t played against Hawthorn, or played for the Cats against the Hawks, so it was really exciting for them, and it was a great way to start the year for all of us.”