“I started playing with Gary Ablett senior and now, 13 or 14 years later, I’m playing with Gary junior – that certainly makes me feel old.
Guys like (assistant coaches) Ken Hinkley and Steve Hocking were also playing then and, obviously, we were playing against ‘Bomber’ (coach Mark Thompson) and ‘Cressa’ (assistant coach Daryn Cresswell). It’s like old times around here at the moment.
Playing in a Grand Final in your first year (1992), you get a bit overwhelmed. In three out of my first four years, I played in Grand Finals. You thought this could go on forever.
You come back to earth pretty hard; I probably took those three games for granted, coming so early in my career. You realise now how hard you actually have to work for it.
Until about 1998, we were playing finals regularly. Hopefully, we can do that this year again.
Playing in three Grand Finals was fantastic; the atmosphere around the town and the Grand Final parade was such a great feeling.
And running out on to the MCG on the last Saturday in September is a feeling you’ll never forget.
Playing in Grand Finals is a highlight, but losing them is a lowlight. Playing for Victoria a couple of times and winning the best and fairest are other highlights.
I’ve had a few injuries along the way, but I’ve really had no regrets with what I’ve done in my footy career.
When Bomber came to Geelong (in 2000), he had a vision to rebuild the club and make it successful. There are not too many people here now that were here in 1999. Now things are starting to click and we’re playing some good footy.
You can’t really compare the eras. When I came in, it was a team full of champions like Ablett, Garry Hocking, Mark Bairstow, Paul Couch, Barry Stoneham, Billy Brownless – and all we had to do was build a side around them.
Now we have a side that is spread over a more consistent level; there’s no champion player as such.
Bomber’s thrown me back into the middle this year, coming off the bench after the first 15 minutes when the sting has gone out of the game.
At the moment, I’m pretty keen to go on next year. We sat down at the end of last year and said we’d just go year by year. At the end of the year, we’ll sit down again over a coffee and reassess.
If the body is feeling good, then I’ll tell him I’d love to play on, but if my body is not up to it, then there’s no use cheating the club.
