IT would be a tough time to be a young recruit at Geelong.

To follow in the footsteps of once-in-a-generation players and a once-in-a-generation era is no easy task.

It’s why Cats fans need to really get behind the current group as they try and write their own history as players in the famous blue and white hoops.

The challenge facing Geelong is that there is no quick fix to rebuilding for another premiership assault. History tells you this doesn’t happen overnight. When will Brisbane ever get back to being what it was in the early 2000s? Hawthorn took 20 years to begin a new era of success and almost merged in the meantime.

So, patience and great list management are the key.

Chris Scott is facing some big decisions already this year with how he manages his list.

He has always maintained that he will never make decisions today that will hurt the club in the future.

SANDO: WHY THE CATS WILL BOUNCE BACK

media_camera SteveJ started as the sub

Last Sunday, we saw another sign that no one is safe when he played Steve Johnson in the sub vest. It was not easy to watch one of the all-time greats of the club in the green vest, but game time has to be invested into the young players as a priority, and the coach made a tough call.

It may be that we see more of this as the year goes on with the older players.

This weekend, the Cats play the Tigers, then they face Collingwood and Sydney in Sydney. It is possible they could lose all three games and be 1-6.

If that happens, how will Scott approach the rest of the season? At what point will he concede finals and commit the entire focus to the future? It’s no secret that Corey Enright, James Kelly, Johnno, Jimmy Bartel and Andrew Mackie are getting towards the end, so will they be rotated out at times with an eye to the future? The club needs to see if guys like Jake Kolodjashnij can play.

MOONS: I’M BULLISH ABOUT THE BOMBERS



But, at the same time, the club can’t afford to lose them all at once at the end of this season.

The young group coming through need these legends to set them on the right path and help fast-track their progress.

When I first came to Geelong in 2000, the list was in a similar state in terms of age and games experience to what we are seeing now.

There were the older guys like Buddha Hocking, Bazza Stoneham, Brad Sholl, Glen Kilpatrick and Liam Pickering, but then a bit of a gulf to the really young guys.

The older players may have been past their best footy, but their experience was valuable to us as a young group.

The club had drafted particularly well in those years, with the likes of Paul Chapman, Joel Corey, Enright, Bartel, Johnson, Kelly and a bloke called Gary Ablett arriving.

But we all needed time ­together and there were still a few tough years to endure before we were able to seriously contend.

This new Cats group coming through also needs time.

What is unfair on them is people making the comparisons between them and the players who have just gone before them.

We’ve seen youngsters Darcy Lang, Nakia Cockatoo and Cory Gregson do some promising things so far this season and it will be great to see who they can become.

Cats fans need to get behind them.

Every step of the way.