
THE 2018 season brought a lot of enjoyment on-field for the majority of the season, only to see us fall on preliminary final day. There are varying circumstances each season, however I know everyone involved in our Football Department, Board and Administration were disappointed to lose to West Perth and not reach the first ever Grand Final to be played at Optus Stadium.
Having convincingly accounted for West Perth in the qualifying final and a spirited performance against Subiaco in the second semi-final, the loss was hard for us to accept as we felt we were at least in the top two teams for the entire 2018 season and wasted an opportunity to play off for the premiership.
Highlights include the performance of our WJ Hughes Medal winner Marlion Pickett who put himself in strong contention to be drafted into the AFL. His growth is another strong endorsement of the work Todd Curley and the coaches do in having mature aged players primed to succeed at AFL level if given the opportunity. On that theme, congratulations to Tim Kelly on a superb first season with Geelong, where he finished in a tie for runner-up with Patrick Dangerfield in their best and fairest voting. The fact that only Nathan Buckley has polled more Brownlow votes in their first AFL season is testimony to the season Tim put together.