FORGOTTEN forward Lincoln McCarthy is the bolter of Geelong’s pre-season, with Patrick Dangerfield asking coach Chris Scott: “where have you been hiding this bloke” in recent years?

Ravaged by recurring navicular injuries, where he once held grim talks with the Cats about what life after football would look like if his foot failed to heal, the livewire forward has blitzed training since being given the all-clear to join the main group before Christmas.

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“(Dangerfield) wandered over to me at training the other day and asked where we’d been hiding Lincoln McCarthy, because he really rates him,” Scott said.

“(Dangerfield) has seen some things in our young group of players, not the well-known ones necessarily — he knew that they were good players — but he’s seen the opportunities and the possibilities in our younger players, which is making me a bit happier.”

Geelong may yet be rewarded for its faith in McCarthy after sticking by the freakishly talented 22-year-old through two years completely wiped by injury.

He missed the entire 2013 season with a serious navicular injury that happened when he tried to outsprint David Wojcinski in a shuttle run in 2012. That injury reappeared 12 months ago and he failed to play a game at all last season.

But the Cats have never questioned his talent and gave him a two-year contract extension in 2014 on the back of only a handful of AFL games.

McCarthy is the type of player the Cats hope to sprinkle around superstars like Dangerfield as they embrace the expectations of a swift rise up the ladder.

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Scott said Dangerfield was having a profound influence on pre-season on a number of levels, including taking players like Nakia Cockatoo and McCarthy under his wing.

“Patty is a giver to the community, we knew that before he came to Geelong,” Scott said.

“But he is the happiest person in the Geelong region right at the moment. He’s felt that way all through the pre-season and that’s what we’ve seen in his actions as well.

“We’re a strong believer at this footy club that well-rounded, strong people contribute in the best and most efficient way to your organisation and I think the fact that Patty is happy with his life off the field is helping him with his contributions to our footy club internally.

“He hasn’t missed a session. He’s the ultimate professional. He’s a phenomenal athlete, so we’ve seen all those things in the training, so I think our boys are sick of training against him a little bit, they’re looking forward to playing with him.”