GEELONG midfielder Brent Prismall says watching his teammates claim the 2007 premiership will forever spur him on to be part of a team which reaches the same lofty heights.

The combative midfielder showed he’s worthy of a place in Geelong’s highly rated engine room in the Cats’ opening NAB Cup clash against Melbourne, racking up 35 touches in a display that had many commentators singing his praises.

Prismall told the press after the game that he’d still like to refine his game in the next few weeks before the season proper.

“I got a fair bit of the ball which was encouraging, but I probably didn’t use it as well as I would have liked, so I’ve got to look at improving that,” Prismall said.

“I thought I made some good attacking decisions, but it’s probably a little hard to analyse straight after a game, so I’ll sit down and have a good look at it this week.

“[Geelong] has shown they’re willing to give the young blokes a go. I got a fair bit of game time this week, so hopefully I can get the same amount of game time next week and I can build on that.”

Like coach Mark Thompson, Prismall conceded the Cats didn’t quite hit their straps on the day, despite the scoreboard showing a big win.

“It’s something to build on. There’s obviously some good things and some bad things to come out of the day,” Prismall said.

“I think from a team perspective, we played some good footy, but also some pretty ordinary footy.”

Prismall played the first five games of 2007 and looked to be on the verge of cementing his senior position before being rotated into the reserves. Then, just as he was ready to return to the fold, he broke his wrist.

Similarly to Tom Lonergan, he would eventually stave off the effects of injury to play a part in Geelong’s premiership-winning VFL team, but not in the AFL.

He says the prospect of being part of a trophy-winning team at a senior level has offered some serious motivation on the training track over summer.

“It’s definitely something I want to be involved in, and there were probably times last year where I pushed myself and my arm a bit too hard to get back too quickly.”

“But when I did eventually get back, I definitely felt like I could get back into the senior team and that I could contribute.

“It was just a frustrating year from my point of view, and I don’t want to dwell on it.”

Thompson said that missing out on the Grand Final side would be something that Prismall could use as a factor to lift his game in 2008.

“Yeah, I think it should be, and it has been for him. He’s trained very well [over summer],” Thompson said after the match.

“He was very very close to being in our best side last year, but unfortunately he hurt his arm. We’ve certainly got plans for him.”

Other clubs were rumoured to have plans for Prismall, too, but while he knew he was some way down the pecking order at Skilled Stadium, he never thought about asking to be traded.

“I definitely knew it was going to be hard to get a go, but I never thought about looking elsewhere,” he said.

“It’s a good position to be in when the club has so many good midfielders like [Cameron] Ling, [Jimmy] Bartel, [James] Kelly, [Joel] Corey and [Gary] Ablett, the list goes on, and they give you something to learn from.

“I’m coming up against those guys every week in training, and it’s going to be a great challenge every week to hold my spot.”