Tom Harley walks away

[Booney]

Contributed by Forum Member "REB"

Tom Harley has announced his retirement from AFL football today. From the first time he walked into Cat Park up to the very end, Tom was a player who put the team first. He walks away from football with nothing to prove and an indelible legacy to the Geelong Football Club as a dual premiership captain.

Tom Harley was a Norwood player who was in the reserves more often than not when Port coach Mark Williams decided to cull him from Port's list after one senior match. Tom Harley went on to play 197 games for the Cats to take his tally to 198 league games. In retrospect the delisting at Port was a blessing in disguise for Tom Harley. Had he remained at Port he might have only achieved the status of AFL fringe player who managed to rack up 200 games at Norwood. Instead he went to a new environment at Geelong and the player and the club have both prospered.

When Harley arrived at Geelong the Cats were not the formidable force that they are today. In 1999 the Cats started brightly enough with five straight wins but found themselves at 5-9 nine weeks later. In the following years Harley teamed with Matthew Scarlett and Darren Milburn in a backline that was continually under siege as the Blight era midfielders retired to be replaced by the current group who were still very much travelling with L plates. The tough years at Geelong forged the backline that has since delivered two flags to the club and despite the once in a lifetime status of Matthew Scarlett, Tommy Harley was very much the spiritual leader of first the defence, and then the club.

At the conclusion of the 2006 season which was a disaster for Geelong, the club decided to perform a major review of off and on field operations. Tom Harley was elected captain in a move that surprised many given Geelong's history of electing injury prone leaders who struggled to get on the park. Despite a body that was starting to struggle with the demands of league football, Harley led the club well on the field and was one of the more articulate and respected Captains in the league off it. In the later stages of Harley's career he was awarded a belated All Australian honour at a time when his signature play was zoning off his man and dropping in front of his team mates opponent. Tom Harley led the league in intercepting opposition kicks at this time. This selfless and courageous style of play typified what the Geelong Football Club saw in Tom Harley when it was time to draft a new plan. In a club that had struggled in the area of on field leadership Tom Harley provided it and then some in what has turned out to be arguably the club's greatest era.

Tom Harley was given the option of playing on another year to reach 200 league games. This was offered by Mark Thompson who knew full well what Tom's decision would be. Tom Harley walks away from league football a dual premiership captain with an All Australian to his name. With nothing more to prove, Tom Harley has once again put others first in his retirmement from league football.

Tom Harley, I salute you.

regards,

REB

[Dogwatcher]

Nice piece REB.

[whufc]

here, here

[Hondo]

REB has some real talent as a forum-journo

Very nice piece of writing about one of the great stories in football! To go from being traded for pick 30ish after 2 games to a 2-time AFL premiership captain and all-Australian would make a great fictional story if it wasn't true.

[Dutchy]

Good piece REB, a very similar Captain to another 09 retiree Adam Simpson