Fresh from his Rising Star nominated performance in the narrow loss to St Kilda, Geelong youngster Connor O’Sullivan is now readying himself to take on arguably the most talented forward line in the AFL.
The Cats will head to Brisbane later this week for a Saturday night meeting with the reigning premier, who boast the likes of Cam Rayner, Zac Bailey and Eric Hipwood, with livewire Charlie Cameron a chance to return after missing the Lions’ hard-fought win over West Coast.
However, O’Sullivan won’t be getting overawed by the occasion.
“Obviously (playing the) reigning premiers is always exciting,” he said.
“But for us, it’s just another opportunity to work together, get closer as a defensive unit, and, hopefully, just bounce back from last week.”
Drafted with pick 11 in the 2023 National Draft, last weekend’s match was just O’Sullivan’s third in the Hoops at AFL level.
As much as he would have liked to have made more than one appearance last year, he appreciates the experience the 18 VFL games he played have given him.
“I think it did give me a lot of time to work with and alongside a lot of the younger players,” O’Sullivan said.
“It gave us a good opportunity to gel as a young core and then sort of just work through how we all like to play and just develop that chemistry.
“It also did give me a good opportunity to play against more mature bodies.
“VFL is a very good competition, so being able to be challenged against them definitely gave me some understanding and a little bit of experience on how I would play against certain types of players.”
O’Sullivan says the support of one of the AFL’s most experienced backlines has helped him settle into the team.
“I definitely feel like without them, it may not feel that way,” the 19-year-old said.
“But being in such an amazingly knowledgeable and experienced group, especially with backs group that we do have, it just allows me to feel comfortable and just play to my strengths, knowing that they’re there to support me at all times.”
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