GEELONG boss Brian Cook pulled his footy chief Neil Balme aside at Flemington a month ago.

He had brought the veteran football manager to Oaks Day to pin him down on one question: was he jumping ship to Collingwood?

“I said, ‘Are you leaving us? Are you going for the bucks?’DRAFT: CATS UNVEIL IMPRESSIVE LITTER OF KITTENS“And he said yes and yes. I just can’t say no to this one.”

The Cats had been knocked out of the park by two factors: Collingwood’s riches and Balme’s close association with Nathan Buckley.

Not in itself a mortal blow, especially given Geelong’s succession planning and determination to release good people when they want out.

Yet it was the final setback in a jarring few months at a club not recently accustomed to losing.

First came a straight-sets finals departure, then the loss of exciting midfielder Allen Christensen and then Balme’s move to Collingwood.

In between Cook, 59, would spend three days in intensive care with blood poisoning, missing the Brownlow Medal and Grand Final as he slowly recovered.

This week the good news started flowing again at Simonds Stadium, with an influx of new draftees and a $70 million Labor Party injection into the stadium.

Cook sat down with the Herald Sun in his Geelong office to discuss an off-season of transition.

STRAIGHT SETS

GEELONG coach Chris Scott doesn’t like conceding a single goal, so how did he react to consecutive finals losses against Hawthorn and North Melbourne?

“He wasn’t that happy,’’ deadpans Cook.

“No, he didn’t like that ... We (barely) fired a shot. One quarter against North Melbourne and maybe against Hawthorn we were competitive for a while but by and large we disappointed ourselves.

“Chris was bitterly disappointed early in the piece and he’s had time to think about it and he’s pretty rational.

“The coach is very determined at the moment and seems to have a mission with his energy and direction.”

Geelong will again try to pull off a mission achieved in 2011 — transition out some of the nine plus-30 Cats and fast-track the 30 under 24 to keep in premiership mode.

“Pretty much our objectives will be similar to last year — make the top four and see what happens.

“We have been in transition for three or four years and we have a very young side. But we think we will win enough games to finish top four.”





media_camera Joel Selwood after Geelong’s finals exit. Picture: Wayne Ludbey



































LOST CAT

GEELONG is the master trader, buying at the bottom of the market and rarely letting go quality players without maximum compensation (see two first-round picks for Gary Ablett).

So it shocked many when they accepted Brisbane’s pick 21 for Allen Christensen and then gave it up for inconsistent St Kilda tall Rhys Stanley.

“It is difficult to help someone who doesn’t want to be helped,’’ Cook says.

“And no matter how much you try to meet them to drag things out of them, the first thing people have to say is, ‘I have an issue’.

“It took us a long time to get to that stage. He (Christensen) eventually admitted he had some personal issues and felt he needed to leave this environment to deal with them.

“I don’t believe that. We needed to deal with them. So I think Chrisso made a decision that I hope doesn’t come back — which he regrets in the future.”

media_camera Geelong arrivals (from left) Rhys Stanley, Mitch Clark, Sam Blease and Padraig Lucey.

A TRADE FOR STEVIE J?

GREATER Western Sydney came at Geelong late in the trade period to offer a top-10 pick for matchwinner Steve Johnson.

He was in America playing golf and expecting a new baby so it barely progressed.

But in unemotional terms if the Cats had secured pick No.4 for a 31-year-old it might have advantaged their list management plans.

“I don’t think it was taken seriously by Stevie,’’ says Cook.

“It came as a complete surprise to us on the last day. This thing comes out of the blue and you could take advantage of it.

“But the issue with those things is you have the potential to upset your whole playing group. Some people say it would be a great opportunity to go and get (pick) 4 and 7 and let go a couple of players but you might talk to 10 players and upset them and nothing happens.

“We are not going to approach our players like that.”

media_camera The Giants made an audacious bid to poach Cats star Steve Johnson.

FIRING UP THE FAITHFUL

COOK disputes the notion Geelong’s supporters prefer to watch the footy with a blanket over their knee than get up and roar and shout.

But if Simonds Stadium is a fearsome road trip, the supporters still aren’t very engaged.

“I don’t know (how we improve it). We have tried a lot of things. Geelong supporters are not as overt. By and large they are not as extroverted and loud as others.

“The issue is, do you want them to be? We would like them to be a little more overt. We have tried using the super screen more and the loudspeakers to get that atmosphere. We need to do more, but we would never want to take the actual game off the pedestal in any way.”