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Sport Nation
"It’s the core of a premiership defence": Why the Crunch Time team is bullish on young Geelong duo
Nicholas Quinlan • April 5th, 2025 4:33 pm
SEN's Crunch Time team has given high praise to two young Geelong Cats players in Connor O'Sullivan and Sam De Koning.
In Geelong’s 39-point win against Melbourne last night, both players had superb games but in particular O'Sullivan.
He managed to collect 23 disposals, 13 marks and three contested marks which was a game-high.
Having received a Rising Star nomination after his round two performance against St Kilda, AFL.com.au's Josh Gabelich holds the belief that O’Sullivan is the current favourite to win the award.
“I thought the emergence of Connor O’Sullivan, he really stamped himself as this year’s man to beat in the rising star,” Gabelich said.
“This guy played one game last year and he was given Joel Selwood’s number for a reason on draft night back in 2023.
The Crunch Time team noted the impact that the duo of O’Sullivan and 2022 premiership player Sam De Koning could have for Geelong going forward as part of their next generation.
While De Koning may not play exclusively in the defence, Kane Cornes believes that those two could have a similar impact to Melbourne’s Jake Lever and Steven May who were important keys to the Demons 2021 premiership.
“Imagine O’Sullivan and him together for the next ten years,” Cornes said.
“We’ve seen Lever and May and the impact that can have as a duo.
“It’s the core of a premiership defence, isn’t it?
“And you’ve still got Tom Stewart who is going to stick around for probably another two to three years.”
Gerard Whateley also noted that De Koning looks like a "generational defender".
Geelong will be looking to cement their place within the top eight when they play the Adelaide Crows next week as part of Gather Round.
The match will take place on Thursday night at Adelaide Oval.
