Retired Tom Harley (1999-2009)

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!

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10 Minutes With... Tom Harley


Tom Harley captained the Geelong Cats to their first premiership in 44 years in 2007. We asked him how he plans to top that

WORDS CRAIG TANSLEY


How on earth do you follow up this season after last year’s victory?
It’s tricky but what we have to do is curb our expectations. Last year was a record-breaking year for us, not just with the grand final but also with the Brownlow [medal awards] and the number of guys chosen as AllAustralians. We don’t want to think too much about back-to-back premierships – it’s not a focus for us, it’s not healthy.

So has your preparation changed, as defending premiers?
No, we’ve prepared much the same, although with fitness we’re even further advanced than this time last year. We’ve lost four players because of the debt of the club but that’s given opportunities to nine new kids. We have a bunch of great, 18-year-olds training with us, but we have roughly the same nucleus of 26 or 28 players.

Has the loss of Nathan Ablett thrown a spanner in the works?
Yeah. In AFL circles it’s pretty well unheard of for a 22-year-old to retire. We didn’t see it coming, but Nathan had lots of reasons. Tom Hawkins is the obvious beneficiary, he could get a permanent spot on the forward line.

Do you intend to keep the same sort of game plan?
It shouldn’t be too different, although Nathan’s gone, but I think we want to stay ahead of everything and continue playing attacking, exciting footy like last year.

Do you feel everyone’s out to get you now?
Because they are. (Laughs) Yeah, I’ve been in sides playing reigning premiers and I know how hard you try to beat them. But I think that already started last year. When we won 15 in a row we became the hunted, everyone wanted to knock us off. It’s an enviable position to be in, but of course it brings some pressure with it.

Are lots of people out there just waiting for you to fail?
There are always going to be people who want us to lose and of course, there’s the tall poppy thing but we’re not fazed. We have a lot of players who love being the big fish. I’m sure even with the early games of the season people will look very closely at our performances to see if we’re slipping.

On a personal level, how’s your fitness and form? You’re 30 this year, any niggles?
I’ve had a really good pre-season. The last few years I’ve had knee problems and last year it was the finger that kept me out ’til round nine. I’m confident I’ll play the whole season..

How do you escape the pressure of it all as captain?
I’ve been around a long time, I know how AFL works.
Having my fiancée in Sydney takes mental energy; a long-distance relationship keeps my mind occupied.

Any wedding bells on the horizon?
(Laughs) It’s a long-term engagement. I haven’t thought about it yet, but I’m sure it won’t be as nerve racking as a grand final (laughs).

Did last year’s off-field dramas, especially surrounding Ben Cousins, affect you as captain of the team leading the competition?
Yeah, it leaves a sour note, especially when it was such a fantastic year for us on the field. We just have to remember it really should be about what happens on the footy field.

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Grand final experience means little: Harley


GEELONG captain Tom Harley says grand final experience is over-rated and will mean very little to the result of Saturday's match against Hawthorn at the MCG.

"It is a little bit over-rated," Harley said on Monday.

"We went into the grand final without any grand final experience [in 2007] and it didn't seem to deter us too much.
"The build-up [before the game] perhaps we know.

"There are plenty of unexpected things, we've got a bit of handle on those things but we are going to have some players play that didn't play last year and I am sure they are going to have some feelings of nerves as everybody will.

"The experience factor is a tough one to gauge but its certainly not going to harm us."

Harley said the week itself was a "hell of a lot of fun" and that he was particularly looking forward to the grand final parade on Friday.

"I enjoyed [the grand final parade] last year. I rode in a car with Bomber and saw a lot of family and friends. There are two Victorian teams in it this year for the first time in a while so there should be plenty of people there and plenty of colour. It is a great tradition," Harley said.

"We have been in the spotlight for two years; our games are widely critiqued and analysed and the grand final is the pinnacle of intense media intensity in AFL footy. We wouldn't expect anything different."

Harley said he would urge the players to have an open mind this week and not be thrown by anything different that cropped up.
"You've also got to keep your eye on the prize – when you come to training you are there to train and when you are in meetings you are there to listen and obviously when you are there to play on Saturday you are there to play."

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Tom Harley upbeat after not-so-grand finale


ONE minute Tom Harley was marshalling the Geelong backline with the scores level.

The next he was coming to his senses with the Cats five goals down.

That was the cruel sequence of events for the skipper, who was knocked out in a collision with Hawthorn forward Mark Williams in the dying minutes of the first half of Saturday's Grand Final.

By the time doctors had him in a fit state, Hawthorn had bolted. Harley re-emerged from the rooms in the third quarter and was cleared to return to the field in the fourth, but the game was over.

"I have no real recollection of what happened and I knew the scores were about even and I was in here (the rooms) with one of the doctors and we got the score updates as I was getting my faculties back," he said.

"It was really hard to come back four or five goals out."

The difference from 12 months earlier couldn't have been more stark.

Last September, Harley was cuddling the premiership cup. On Saturday he was nursing a lump on his head the size of a small apple.

The sad reality for the Cats is that Harley admitted his amnesia might be a blessing in disguise.

"It's probably not such a bad thing I can't remember much of the game, to be honest," he said.

"I certainly won't be rushing out to watch it. It's the highs and lows of footy (but) this is as low as it gets.

"It was super frustrating. You sort of want to be the hero, I guess, and come back out. But I was just a little bit worse for wear."

Harley said he was ready for the critics to pan the Cats.

"We win well together as a group and we've done that over the last couple of years, but we've got to stay pretty strong and pretty tight and we understand that the knives will probably be out a bit," he said.

"You've got no choice but to get back on the horse. The next couple of days are obviously going to be pretty tough - we've let a lot of people down. We've had fantastic support for the past two years and they'll be really disappointed.

"We were well prepared, very well prepared. We had a great year and that's just the way it happens in our game - it hinges on a Grand Final.

"We weren't up to scratch, we didn't play our best, they played very well, so it's just a gut-wrenching feeling.

"Hawthorn played a fantastic game and thoroughly deserved to win and the bottom line is we didn't."

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Harley hopeful of Rd 1 (2009) start

GEELONG captain Tom Harley says he is recovering well from his post-season knee surgery and should be right for the grand final replay in round one.

The Cat defender is still on modified training but he told the Sunday Herald Sun he believes the repaired knee feels better than it did during 2008.

"I had a good season last year and the clean-up was planned, so it feels better this year than it did last year," Harley said.

"It was quite an effort to get up and play all 25 games. I've been on a pretty conservative training program and I'm just building up the running.

"I don't really have a deadline as far as the NAB Cup goes. I'm just ticking all the boxes and preparing as best I can for the season."

Harley said the players were angry with last year's grand final loss and were looking to atone for it in 2009.

"We were hungry last year and we were hungry all year and we're hungry again. We've got a really experienced group and we're pretty angry with what happened. You can't really do anything about that until you can get out on the park and show your wares," Harley said.

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What footy has taught me - Tom Harley

Geelong Football Club Captain & AFLPA Executive Committee Member

Definitely a high level of self discipline and structure.

What it feels like to be a winner and also how to deal with losing.

How to cope with hurdles in life such as injuries or poor form.

How to deal with a high level of scrutiny and the pressures of being a role model.

An understanding of the vast personalities types in young men.

Teamwork - grouping together people to work towards a common goal.

Maintenance of friendships and communication skills.

Networking skills, dealing with everyone from the top end of town to ‘Joe Blow’ down the street.

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Geelong skipper Tom Harley says he's behind the eight ball



GEELONG captain Tom Harley has admitted he could miss the start of the home-and-away season because of a knee problem.

Speaking at the Cats' community camp in Torquay yesterday, the All-Australian vice-captain said he could not put a definitive time frame on when he would run out for his first match.

The 30-year-old, who had an operation on his left knee late last year, has been part of a small playing group on a modified training schedule over the summer.

After playing every game last year - the first time he had achieved that feat in his career - Harley said he was still aiming to play against Hawthorn in the opening round, but would maintain a conservative approach to his recovery in an effort to see out the entire year.

"As far as general fitness goes, I'd be 110 per cent. I feel fantastic in terms of cardio fitness," Harley said.

"But, then if you're talking about match fitness, I've got none.

"I haven't been playing with the main group. I'm just starting up my running now, I think it's fair to say I'm behind the eight ball.

"Everything we're doing is channelling towards getting myself at a peak condition for the season and it is a long season.

"There tends to be a whole lot of emphasis on round one and the NAB Cup. But, the most important times are towards the latter part of the year."

Harley also confirmed exciting young forward Tom Hawkins and dashing defender David Wojcinski, who were both in the rehabilitation group with him, had joined the main training group and he expected them to play at some stage of the pre-season. "Hawks (Hawkins) is in fantastic nick, he looks super fit," Harley said.

"I keep asking him whether he feels anything in his leg and he hasn't felt anything in what seems like months.

"So it's probably, as much as anything, the coaches are holding him back so he can sustain the whole season, which is the priority for him and also for us.

"He is not injured, that's one thing I can definitely go out on."

Harley said some of the Cats' second and third year players could feature in the NAB Cup, especially if the team was bundled out during the competition and forced to travel to remote locations such as Alice Springs for games in the NAB Challenge.

"We'll play some youngsters I'm sure," Harley said.

"We haven't had the opportunity to do that over the past couple of years in the season proper, we've had very few injuries and and we've been playing some really good footy.

"A few of our second and third year players haven't had a taste and I'm sure they'll get a taste."

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Ireland eyes Sydney-bound Harley




IF Geelong captain Tom Harley decides to leave Skilled Stadium for life as a newlywed in Sydney at the end of the season, it is unlikely that he will be walking away from the game.

The AFL has spoken to Harley, 30, about a senior role in the creation of the western Sydney team, which is due to join the competition in three years, and the Sydney Swans said yesterday they would even consider recruiting him as a player if he wanted to relocate and play on.

"In a general sense, it is unusual to recruit 31-year-olds and given where we are, focusing more on bringing younger blokes through, it wouldn't normally be something we would entertain," Sydney's general manager of football, Andrew Ireland, said.

"But Tom is very impressive and probably the exception that you might consider. It's something I'd be prepared to talk to 'Roosy' (coach Paul Roos) about."

While Harley's playing future beyond the date of his marriage in October to Sydney-based journalist Felicity Percival remains uncertain, perhaps to be determined by how strongly he can finish this season, he has made no secret of his plan to eventually live in the harbour city where his fiancee is editor of Women's Health magazine.

Harley is out of contract at the season's end -- he has played on one-year deals for several seasons -- but Geelong spokesman Kevin Diggerson said the club did not yet know of its 2007 premiership captain's intentions.

"All these things are in place to happen, so the question is when," Diggerson said.

"Tom has spoken to the AFL, there is no secret there, and he is marrying a Sydney girl with the plan of living there when he finishes playing. So those things are all well and truly on the table, but as yet there is no definitive retirement date set for the end of this season."

The AFL's general manager of game development, David Matthews, said the league had spoken to Harley about an as yet un-specified role with the western Sydney push.

"Tom has always taken a broad interest in the welfare of the game and if we were looking for someone to develop people and a strong culture for the new club, you couldn't find too many better," Matthews said.

"Tom could be great for us in that regard and we could be great for him."

While Harley has not played this season because of a knee injury, he played 25 matches last season and was named vice-captain of the All-Australian team.

He has played 184 career games, so needs just 16 to join the prestigious 200 club and 17 to play 200 games for the Cats. Harley played one senior game for Port Adelaide before being traded at the end of the 1998 season.

Diggerson said he was unsure how much of a lure the milestones ahead would be to Harley if he was not to reach them this season but doubted that he would be anything but clear-eyed about his decision.

"He's been a very, very good player and they don't grow on trees, but like all players, when they're done, they're done, and if Tom was to feel that way then I doubt he would try to hang on for the sake of it," Diggerson said.

Ireland said that the Swans first thought of recruiting Harley -- as a past or present player -- when they became aware of his relationship with Percival.

"We heard a couple of years ago that his girlfriend, and now future wife, was up in Sydney and that they've bought a house and that sort of thing. So we were conscious of the fact that he was going to be heading up our way and we certainly thought there would be a role for him with us somewhere," Ireland said.

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