SUPERSTAR midfielder Patrick Dangerfield has stormed home to win his third Carji Greeves Medal at Geelong's best and fairest on Thursday night.
Dangerfield polled 268 votes to finish ahead of departing gun Tim Kelly (259.5), who finished runner-up for a second consecutive season and Tom Stewart (251).
Stewart, who this year was named a Virgin Australia AFL All Australian for a second straight year, eclipsed his previous best finish of fifth.
Tom Stewart came third in the best and fairest.
Tom Hawkins (250) finished in fourth place ahead of last year's winner Mark Blicavs (247).
At the halfway mark, Kelly led from Hawkins and Blicavs with Dangerfield in 12th place before flying home.
Dangerfield capped a stellar season in which he claimed his seventh All Australian blazer, awarded his fourth club best and fairest after gongs in 2015 (Adelaide), 2016 and 2017.
He becomes the eighth Cat in history to win three or more Carji Greeves Medals after Dick Grigg, George Todd, Ian Nankervis, David Clarke, Garry Hocking, Paul Couch and Joel Selwood.
AFL TRADE HUB All the latest news
Grigg and Hocking are the only four-time winners in the club's history.
"It's very humbling, it's still bittersweet because of the disappointment from that prelim (final)," Dangerfield said.
"Perhaps if it was (my) first you'd appreciate it in a different way, but the longer you play the more you realise that while you're very proud to win it and it's special but it's not what we're all here to do."
Gary Ablett bounced back into seventh after missing the top 10 in a club best and fairest last year for the first time since 2002.
Gary Ablett will be playing on again in 2020 for his final season in the AFL.
Skipper Joel Selwood, who spent the majority of the season in an unfamiliar position on the wing, finished in ninth place - his lowest since his debut season in 2007.
After each game Chris Scott and his team of assistants rated each player's performance out of 15 which was then averaged to give a final score for that game.
For evenness around injuries and players being managed, only the best 23 scores from 25 matches were taken from each player.
WHO'S HANGING UP THE BOOTS? Your club's retirements and delistings
Scott took the opportunity to address the room at Crown Palladium and garner hope for 2020.
"We've heard about the inevitable fall for 10 years now, but it'll come with risk," Scott told the sold-out room.
"Not just physical risk, but emotional risk and mental risk. It's not just for our players, it's for all our people, our supporters, our coaches.
"Contending brings hope and the risk that hope may be crushed and when you're crushed so close to glory it becomes more tempting to lower the expectation, to lower the risk, to lower the emotional investment.
"But that's not the Geelong way.
"Here we are tonight, having achieved more than most thought possible this year, but crushed nonetheless.
"The risk has never felt so real and the consequence so painful, but we have to believe the risk is worth it. An easier, safer path is one way, but it's not our way."
Meanwhile, the delisted Scott Selwood was awarded the Tom Harley Best Clubman and Tom Hawkins named the Club Community Champion.
Gryan Miers, the bolter in the top 10, was named the club's Best Young Player after bursting onto the scene in the AFL after spending 2018 in the VFL.
2019 Carji Greeves Medal – Top 10
1. Patrick Dangerfield (268 votes)
2. Tim Kelly (259.5)
3. Tom Stewart (251)
4. Tom Hawkins (250)
5. Mark Blicavs (247)
6. Luke Dahlhaus (245)
7. Gary Ablett (241.5)
8. Mitch Duncan (240.5)
9. Joel Selwood (239)
10. Gryan Miers (238)
