Cal Twomey has hailed Geelong defender Cam Guthrie as the most underrated player in the AFL.
The 25-year-old defender is having a career-best year in 2024, and that’s coming off a fourth-place finish in last year’s Carji Greeves Medal.
The 2022 premiership player has stepped up in the past fortnight with Tom Stewart out injured and he was significant in Saturday’s win over Carlton with 19 disposals and eight marks.
After only playing 20 games from 2017 to 2020, Twomey has been impressed with how the defender has built across his career as he continues to add strings to his bow each year.
He even considers the half-back an outside smokey to make the All-Australian squad if his form persists.
“Zac Guthrie is the most underrated player in the competition a very outside smokey for the All-Australian squad this year,” Twomey told SEN Crunch Time.
“He’s a half-back … he played 20 games in his first four seasons, so he's one of those players that did it by stealth a little bit.
“He was obviously a premiership player in 2022 and has been very good over the past three seasons.
“I just think his marking has gone to another level. He reads the ball so well, he kicks out, so they trust him with the ball.
“This is not an average footy team at the moment, and he is a key essential cog to it.
“19 disposals, eight marks yesterday, he's pretty cool under pressure.”
Guthrie was selected with pick No. 33 in the 2017 Rookie draft and Twomey thinks that no other club would have selected him apart from Geelong, where his brother Cam was already an established midfielder.
He lauded the Cats for allowing him to develop in the VFL before emerging as a quality top-level defender in recent years.
“I think just the way he's been able to build himself from where he started (is impressive),” Twomey said.
“He was this late pick that pretty much nobody else in the competition would have drafted.
“He had the link with Cam that it was an easy sort of selection just to bring him in and give him a chance.
“His development is symptomatic of what that footy club does … that's just the Cats model … bring them in, spend a bit of time (in the VFL0, be patient and see them flourish down the track.”
Guthrie will hope to keep his strong form up when the Cats face the Demons at the MCG on Saturday night.
