The Brownlow Medal is touted as the closest race in recent history, though one star might make a mockery of those predictions. So who fits the bill? The Carlton Football Club has announced a veteran of sports management will take over from Cain Liddle as its chief executive officer. The Swans have moved to lock up four stars, while a premiership Tiger and an exciting young star have both signed new contracts.
All the latest trade news. Plenty has been said about the raw talent of Port Adelaide young gun Connor Rozee. Likes and dislikes. Max Gawn has his men marching into a grand final with gusto. But why stop there? Nathan Jones has touched down in Melbourne after choosing to leave the Demons to be at the birth of his twins. For the first time in the AFL era, both grand finalists will have two weeks break between the preliminary final and the decider.
Melbourne players openly laughed at Joel Selwood as the Geelong skipper argued in vain that a Demons star had fooled the umpire. Melbourne completed dominated its preliminary final against Geelong, partly thanks to a career-best effort from captain Max Gawn. Inspirational skipper Max Gawn has guided the Melbourne Demons to victory over Geelong and into their first grand final since Ryan Gardner was cut by Geelong without playing an AFL game, but has since followed a similar path as a premiership Bulldog.
Can this no-fuss defender achieve the ultimate? Darcy Fort is keen to move to Brisbane but given the lack of movement between four clubs on three ruckmen, he is happy to face the prospect of sticking with Geelong next year. Geelong has locked away five players for and beyond but a young gun remains in limbo. Geelong list manager Stephen Wells has given an insight into how the club plans to use the interesting hand the Cats hold heading into the draft next month.
Read Today's Paper Tributes. Letter to the Editor. More Geelong Cats. Geelong Cats. Outgoing Cats president Colin Carter. Credit: Arsineh Houspian. Carter assumed the title of Geelong president from the revered Frank Costa with the club in good shape on and off the field and leaves it in a similar position, with the club close to eradicating debt for the first time in 50 years and its place as a respected part of the Geelong and AFL community assured.
It wasn't a fait accompli that the Cats would remain premiership contenders when Carter became president in the year after Gary Ablett left and Chris Scott took over from dual premiership coach Mark Thompson. But the club bounced back to win the flag in and have remained in contention ever since, defying the system of equalisation Carter helped design "to create uncertain outcomes" on the field to make six preliminary finals in 10 years.
Carter describes the people in leadership positions at Geelong as "competitors who care" with long-serving CEO Brian Cook, Scott and skipper Joel Selwood setting the tone in that regard, to create a culture that has made Geelong a destination club this decade. That is an aspect of his time at the Cats that Carter is as proud of as he is of their community work and decision to remove gaming as a revenue source and eliminate gambling advertising from GMHBA Stadium. He has been prepared to stick up for Geelong regularly and take on more vociferous presidents along the way, refusing to give up on his drive to have the game's history before adequately recognised and he has occasionally driven people to distraction with his constant advocacy for more home games at Geelong.
But insiders at Geelong say there was one thing Carter tried not to do — put Geelong's interests ahead of the game's, which he had spent much of his adult life shaping. His decision to step down is consistent, as not only has Carter kept moving but he has kept the game moving, with few people as influential as the former AFL Commission member in shaping the game he loves.
Carter was once described as "a founding father of the modern AFL".
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