JIMMY Bartel quietly put pen to paper on a new four-year deal with his beloved Geelong a fortnight ago.
Despite questions all year about when he would re-sign, the Cats decided not to make a show of securing the Brownlow Medallist's signature, preferring to let the 27-year-old simply continue about the business of racking up possessions.
After club CEO Brian Cook finally announced the news on radio station K-Rock before Friday night's clash with Collingwood, Bartel was happy to 'fess up.
It was fantastic, he said, that he would finish his career where it started.
"I did it a little while ago," Bartel told geelongcats.com.au after turning in a typically strong performance in the Cats' 96-point thumping of the minor premiers.
"We decided to keep it quiet and just let it slide through.
"But I'm absolutely pumped to be staying at Geelong for my whole career.
"It's really special. I don't think many people get a chance to do that in their football career.
"I'm very excited."
Recruited from Bell Park and the Geelong Falcons with the eighth pick in the 2001 NAB AFL Draft, Bartel has played 202 games in the blue and white hoops.
A premiership player in 2007 and 2009, Friday night's result suggested a third flag might be on its way in four weeks' time, but Bartel admitted that it was difficult to draw a form line from a match on which neither team had anything riding.
"They always say winning form is good form, but it's a bit hard to measure because neither side had a lot to gain as far as ladder positions and everything like that, with the bigger picture in the next few weeks," he said.
That said, it was nice to disprove the critics who had written Geelong off after some patchy form in recent weeks, culminating in a surprise home loss to the Sydney Swans in round 23.
"We didn't really want to prove doubters wrong or anything like that, but we were a bit bemused by (talk of) how bad we are, and that we've got wobbles and all the deficiencies we had," Bartel said.
"We're a side that had won 18 games for the year (before Friday night).
"We only lost three times, and they were to some pretty good, in-form sides.
"We knew we weren't playing acceptable footy for us, but no way were we at panic stations like everyone else made it out to be."
With a long home and away season now out of the way and his contract settled, Bartel said he couldn't wait for next Friday night's first final against fierce modern-day rivals Hawthorn.
"It's the only reason we start training in late October/early November: to play finals footy," he said.
"All the rest is just positioning yourself for a good assault on the finals.
"We locked in a top four spot a while ago, and we're pretty pumped now for the real stuff."
