Geelong skipper Tom Harley was asked by the AFL to address its season launch last week on behalf of all 16 club captains. Here are the words that Tom delivered to an appreciative audience.

"It is my absolute privilege to speak on behalf of, and represent the captains and all AFL players here this evening.

I must say that I find this experience extremely humbling. As a boy growing up in Adelaide, I didn't even dare to dream of playing League football. I was a mad Essendon supporter and any chance I had to don the red and black number 32 jumper I would. The game to me back then was great, now it is great and I have no doubt that with the way the game is heading, it will be even better for all Australian children in the future.

Being captain of an AFL captain is an absolutely huge honour. It is a position bestowed upon you by your club to represent the club in all facets. In football nowadays there is far more to a football club than just the team that runs out on to the park on the weekend. As captains we are rightfully expected to be leaders in our respective communities. This is particularly pertinent for a team like Geelong.

The interaction between communities and their football teams is one of the things that make our game so great. Here's a little side story... My fiancee, Felicity, lives in Sydney and is Sydney born and bred and hence her AFL knowledge was limited when our relationship began. I would try to explain to her how large a part of everyday life AFL is in Victoria. To illustrate my point I would use an analogy. It was that everybody has a team - from the Premier to the Street sweeper - footy is all encompassing.

The support is so passionate and we, Geelong, were lucky enough to see the passion first hand by winning the 2007 premiership. For 44 years our supporters were tormented and ridiculed but they would all say it was all worth it for that one win. The overwhelming response was simply "thank you"

I remember Kevin Bartlett talking to our group about five or six seasons ago. He was telling us how football is all about winning premierships - and he should know! He went on to tell us that that if he was a young player hoping to be drafted he would want to go to St Kilda, Melbourne, Sydney, The Western Bulldogs or Geelong... And his reason was simple. None of the teams he mentioned had won a flag in four decades. The Swans were staring at a seven decade drought, so I'm sure Brett Kirk would understand what I'm saying when I say that aside from all the personal satisfaction a premiership brings, the response from life long supporters makes it all worthwhile.

For all the great aspects of the AFL there has been some recent bad press which no doubt is harmful. The current environment can be brutal, however I can say with the utmost of confidence that a very large percentage of AFL players are pillars to society. Clubs are shrewd recruiters and atop of most of the many priorities they have when drafting a player is character. It is nigh on impossible to have over 600 young men and expect flawless off field behaviour, but I am extremely confident that between the clubs, the AFL and the AFLPA, enough education is provided to support young players and educate them into making the right decisions.

The scrutiny is high and will probably only increase but the level of professionalism is also heading skyward. Player leadership groups play an increasingly significant role in setting standards of behaviour and conduct, and I believe this is a great step forward. We are role models and for every one negative story about a player a further 100 or so are not mentioned.

The future of the game is extremely bright. In this the 150th year of Australian Football, the talks of expansion are exciting. We have a huge amount of respect for the history of the game and a healthy appetite to make sure that the next 150 years will leave a lasting positive legacy.

All players are committed to working with the AFL to make sure that the AFL becomes truly national.

I am extremely proud to be an AFL player and I am extremely proud of the initiative and leadership of the AFL as an organisation.

Finally, I would like to wish all the competing clubs the very best of luck for the upcoming season. It promises to be a challenging and exciting year and I personally cannot wait for the ball to be bounced."