{"id":389844,"date":"2024-05-01T22:08:59","date_gmt":"2024-05-01T22:08:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=389844"},"modified":"2024-05-02T01:05:49","modified_gmt":"2024-05-02T01:05:49","slug":"excellent-bartels-mega-praise-for-unlikely-cats-hero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=389844","title":{"rendered":"'Excellent': Bartel's mega praise for unlikely Cats hero"},"content":{"rendered":"

The No.39 may not be a very popular one in the AFL, but if you're a Geelong<\/a> fan, you can attribute it to some of the most successful periods of the club's history.\ufeff<\/p>\n

In the modern era, the No.39 has been worn in three of the Cats' four premierships – in 2007, 2009 and 2022.<\/p>\n

In the early 2000s, it was worn by the half back flanker Darren Milburn.\ufeff<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Why Demetriou can buck infamous Bennett 'curse'\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Former Wallabies coach emerges as shock Rabbitohs contender<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Why Aussie selectors snubbed freakish young star\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

In 2022's grand final victory, it was Zach Guthrie who donned the 39 in the 81-point win over Sydney.<\/p>\n

\ufeffBoth unlikely heroes, who found their feet down back and became crucial parts of the Cats' greatest teams.<\/p>\n

\"Guthrie<\/p>\n

Now, Jimmy Bartel<\/a> has likened Guthrie to Milburn, as the 25-year-old defender, who hasn't even played 100 games yet, continues his successful rise to the top.<\/p>\n

"What they love to do at the Cats is give player's numbers who remind them of a player in the past," Bartel said on Nine's Footy Classified<\/em> on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

Footy Classified is now available as a podcast! Subscribe\/follow via<\/strong><\/em> Apple<\/strong><\/em><\/a>,<\/strong><\/em> Spotify<\/strong><\/em><\/a> or<\/strong><\/em> Google Podcasts<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

"You know, you have a look at Max Holmes, very much like James Kelly.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"The other Guthrie (Zach), wears No.39, exactly like Darren Milburn\ufeff. He plays half back, zones off."<\/p>\n

\"Darren<\/p>\n

Bartel lauded Guthrie's efforts against Carlton, after he was forced to move into\ufeff the role left by star Tom Stewart, who was sidelined with a concussion from the previous round.<\/p>\n

"He had four intercept marks last week (against Carlton), filled a massive hole there of Tom Stewart," he said.<\/p>\n

But it's not just in 2024 that Guthrie's calm and confident nature down back has been noticed.<\/p>\n

\"Cam<\/p>\n

Matthe\ufeffw Lloyd even claimed that Geelong regard the young premiership defender as their most underrated player.<\/p>\n

"He's just been so consistent over the last two years. Brave, ball use has improved," Bartel said.<\/p>\n

"Just got to give him his props here, he's been excellent."<\/p>\n

Geelong will face Melbourne at the MCG in a top-of-the-table clash on Saturday night.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The No.39 may not be a very popular one in the AFL, but if you're a Geelong fan, you can attribute it to some of […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":389846,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389844"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=389844"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389844\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":389850,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389844\/revisions\/389850"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/389846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=389844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=389844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=389844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}