Cats honour premiership trio in hall of fame

The Geelong Football Club has elevated one of its greatest players to Legend status and added a premiership captain and a two-time premiership coach into its Hall of Fame.

Tonight, the Cats celebrated the careers and achievements of Gary Ablett Jr, Joel Selwood and Mark “Bomber” Thompson at the Hall of Fame event at GMHBA Stadium.

Geelong’s drought-breaking 2007 premiership links all three: Thompson was coach, Selwood was in his first year, and Ablett Jr won his first Carji Greeves Medal as the club’s best and fairest player.

Ablett Jr is only the 29th person to be named a Legend at Geelong. The award is the highest honour the club can bestow.

Speaking to this masthead tonight, Ablett Jr said he had thought a lot about the significance of being made a Legend.

“As a 17 year old getting to the football club not really knowing if I was good enough to play at the top level, to being able to reflect and think back on the 19 years I had in the game, I think it’s just a reward for all the hard work. It truly is a blessing,” he said.

“I got to live out my dream, which was an amazing thing as well.”

Drafted in 2001, Ablett Jr played 247 games for Geelong in two stints over 12 years.

His widely lauded career at the Cats led to his nickname “The Little Master” and featured two premierships (2007, 2009), the 2009 Brownlow Medal, eight All-Australian selections, two Carji Greeves Medals and five Leigh Matthews Trophies as the AFLPA’s Most Valuable Player.

Ablett Jr was traded to Gold Coast at the end of 2010, playing 110 games across seven seasons and winning the 2013 Brownlow Medal before returning to Geelong and retiring at the end of 2020.

Geelong drafted Hall of Fame inductee Selwood in 2006 and he made an immediate impact in 2007, winning the AFL Rising Star award and playing a major role in helping the Cats win the flag.

His 355-game career is the second most in club history and includes four premierships, three Carji Greeves Medals, six All Australian honours and four AFLPA Most Courageous Player awards.

 

 

Selwood captained Geelong in 245 games; an AFL record.

He said the 2022 grand final, in which he led the Cats to the flag in what would ultimately be his final game, was his favourite story from his football career.

Thompson, also inducted into the Hall of Fame, coached Geelong for 242 games between 2000 and 2010; the third most in club history.

His accolades include the 2007 and 2009 premierships and two All Australian coaching selections.

Selwood said, as a young player, he learned many lessons from Thompson as a coach.

“Obviously I was new to the game but I loved the hard, tough coach that he was,” he said.

 

Ablett Jr said Thompson had incredible “footy IQ”.

“He was really great at developing young kids when they got into the football club,” he said.

“You hear people talk about the basics and the fundamentals a lot; he was just someone who understood the game and a big part of the reason we had so much success.

“He was a really great communicator as well.”

Saturday’s event drew not only current AFL and AFLW players on the Cats’ list but also stars from the 2007 era and earlier decades.