No. 2 Tom Harley

[CatmanForever]

http://gfc.com.au/portals/0/images/players/cats/Tom_Harley_small.jpg

Tom Harley


Fast Facts

Jumper No: 2
Height: 192 cm
Weight: 95 kg
DOB: 18 July 1978
Recruited From: Norwood (SANFL)/Port Adelaide (AFL)

[thejester]

Been one of our better players so far.

[Hairy Cat Mooney]

Played an awesome game, will give him a lot of confidence. Shows the critics that he belongs in our side.

[Metallica_Man]

AFL Round 11 v Adelaide
Very good 1st half, 2nd half slowed down a bit but you can expect that coming back from an injury

[chapmanmagic35]

Still a very important player as shown today. Made a couple of clangers, but on the whole, pretty solid :thumbsu:

[diablo14]

I'm gonna look out for the skip in 2008 :D

[CatmanForever]

from keen cats fellas meeting:

My meeting with Tom Harley was awesome. He is a genuinely good bloke, and very friendly. I took down plenty of notes and asked heaps of questions.
First of all, Harley said St Kilda, Hawks and the Dogs were the main concerns for Geelong, but that said, he was quick to back up that every team provides a challenge, and that they go into every game through the same process.

The review system last year was very confronting apparently, and I was shocked to find out tactics they used. He didn’t give away too much, but he said players were marked out of 10 for 4 categories by every player, such as integrity, work ethic, etc. The results were posted on the walls on every Monday. Apparently Ling came out on top usually. The players evaluated each other as we know, but I couldn’t believe that the players gave feedback to Mark Thompson, and criticised him and stuff. He likened it to a classroom, with students telling a teacher of their performance!

It was awesome to hear him say that he considered Matthew Scarlett as the best backman he’s seen, and ranks him up there with the best ever.
I believe Harley made reference to big footy, when asked if players could hear criticism from the crowd during matches. He said players actually do hear people yelling criticisms, and many times, it upsets them. Just like bad media coverage through newspapers and the internet (Pretty sure Shannon Byrnes would be depressed!)

Harley said he thought Ottens would be back next week! But, brace yourselves, he said he didn’t think we would see Egan until at least round 16!
I asked him if he expected to see Nath back this year, he said his gut feeling was no. He expressed his absolute utmost respect for Nath and his decision, saying there would be many more retirees in the AFL if they had the courage to retire like Nath. Good on him. Hutchy, you are wrong. He stated Nick Riewoldt was the best he’s played on, and commented on the flexibility on having Harry Taylor to go with him, whom he rates highly, but also thinks he is a ‘strange cat,’ as he wore zinc in the team photos! It was interesting to hear this following comment. He stated that Riewoldt killed himself (Harley) in the 1st quarter, because Harley was zoning off, so throwing Taylor onto him, who was used to as a junior playing on your opponent and sticking to them without zoning off, slowed the impact of Rooey.

He was unsure what Prismall would have to do to get a game when I asked, but when asked for this week’s replacements for Moons and Gamble, he said no to my Scott Simpson suggestion, instead, saying Milburn would push to centre half forward with Andrew Mackie an automatic inclusion. He thought either Byrnes of Pris would come in for Gamble, but he didn’t sound confident on Prismall’s inclusion.

Harley said that like the crowd, players get really excited when Blake gets the ball around goals, and that he was a cult figure for the wrong reason! I found it extremely to interesting to hear him say that King and Blake aren’t friends.

Some guys at the club like reading newspapers and stuff, and Harley stated that this depended on who writes the article. When asked about his opinion on Caroline Watson, he respected her for being a woman in ‘a man’s business.’ Harley is on the Sunday footy show this week, but will NEVER appear on the Thursday night footy show again. When he was on last year, they had asked him 6 or 7 times beforehand to come on. When he was on, he said it was a shocking show and didn’t want to have anything to do with it again, especially with all this Caro stuff. He thinks Sam Newman, in my own words, is a ________. Upset me!

I’m not sure if this is new news, but Geelong will be heading to America for a pre season match next season. He stated that the guys don’t usually go out after matches, and never ever if they have only a six day break. This was partly due to the Geelong nightscene ‘not being great.’ A few years ago, a curfew was imposed, but its not on anymore because you can keep and guys like Darren Milburn, a father of 3 and 31 years old from going out.

For the off season, Harley said players 8 weeks to themself. 4 of those, you ‘do nothing’, and the other 4 you get fit again. For that bloke who posted a thread about 2 or 3 months ago, he stated Otto benched the most, at around 150 kg’s, but quickly said, you only need strength to break tackles, take marks etc. He explained you were more advantaged these days if you were athletic.

He was a mad Essendon supporter growing up, and the only time he has ever shaken someone’s hand before a game, it was James Hird when he was 20
He spoke of his pain watching one of his best mates, King, last week play opposed to him. He said Geelong ‘basically gave him the boot.’
He called the Hall incident ‘hideous.’ He estimated he would get 8-10 weeks, and when he has played on Hall, he has noticed how damn hard his punches were in the ribs and stuff. He said he ‘can seriously box,’ and that the incident was also ‘ugly.’

At the club, he respected Scarlett the most, and said he was the best defender he has seen, is up there with the best. He also respected Ling, and Egan also, due to the way he is taking his rehabilitation. He thought unfurling the flag in front of Melbourne was ‘unfair.’
He humorously stated that he knew they had won the GF when he won the toss, but when serious stated at halfway through the 3rd quarter. Mackie apparently went up to him and said, ‘you’re a premiership captain.’ He said he got really emotional for that, but quickly put Mackie back into place and told him to focus.

It was interesting to hear that when Johnson was suspended last year, it was for being drunk after surgery. This is why he was not suspended after the speeding incident, because it ‘had no impact on training.’ (Without realising the consequences of a crash!)
It was funny when a friend stated Harley had ‘adhesive mitts’ but he then said he uses grippo. Interesting. Despite initial thoughts, Otto doesn’t have the largest hands at the club, apparently Joel Corey does. Harley said hand to hand, that Corey hands were another set of fingertips bigger. He also said he quite often carries the ball single handedly in matches, which I have never noticed.
He said a great quote in the discussion, one which I payed particular attention to. “If you see something, do something about it.” This applies for on and off the field.
Hope this has been interesting, and Heaopie, my fellow big footy poster, is there anything I missed? Keen Cats Fella.

So some pretty interesting stuff in there I reckon! No I’m not a qualified journalist either!