Mathew Stokes finished at the Cats last year as a happy one club player.
The small half-forward would call it a day on what had been a hugely succesful 10 years at the Cats at the conclusion of 2015.
His time at Geelong was more successful than most players could ever dream of.
Stokes played a total of 189 games, kicking 203 goals and finished with two premiership medals.
Having settled into a new job at the AFL, the 31-year-old had begun getting used to life as a retired footballer.
“After last year finished up, I was pretty happy to walk away from footy,” revealed an honest Stokes
“Once you’ve retired and you’ve gotten used to having a couple of cakes with morning tea and a few beers after work... it becomes quite enjoyable life after footy.”
However, the opportunity and challenge presented to him when Essendon approached him to pull the boots back on and play on in 2016 was ultimately one too good to pass up on.
“The challenge of helping this Club get back to where it should be, and the personal challenge of trying to get fit again to be a professional athlete for round one was pretty enticing for me,” said Stokes
“It was an opportunity I couldn’t knock back.”
The challenge for Stokes would be more of a mental over physical having to find the desire to start again after some time away from the game.
Having rekindled that desire, Stokes is now confident that he will be ready to go come round one, and is excited to assist in the development of a young Essendon team.
“I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that I’m there for round one with the boys,” said Stokes
“There’s a lot of work to be done in a short time frame.
“I’m quite confident, as is (James Kelly), that we know what it takes to get our bodies up.
“We’ll be there for round one.
“It’s about the weights and putting in the kms in the legs and getting my legs conditioned to last the whole year.
“I think we’ve got enough time before the season starts to get there.”
Having agreed to terms with Essendon on Thursday, Stokes was put to work on Friday’s training session and again at Saturday’s team triathlon.
It wasn’t a great day for the new recruit, however, joking that he was stitched up by the Club’s fitness staff.
“The fitness guys told me that I could bring my mountain bike,” said Stokes
“We ended up doing a 20km bike ride.
“I learned my lesson this time. Don’t bring a mountain bike to a road ride.”
