By Ronny Lerner
Star Geelong defender Tom Stewart could never have imagined seven short years ago that he would eventually scale the summit of the footy world.
Back then, Stewart was plying his trade for South Barwon in the Geelong Football Netball League as a 22-year-old.
But after Geelong’s VFL team took a punt on him in 2016, he was drafted by the AFL team later that same year, and has never looked back, collecting four All-Australian jumpers, a best-and-fairest, and now a coveted premiership, to become arguably the best defender in the country.
Star Geelong defender Tom Stewart.Credit:AFL Photos
“Not at all,” he told The Age post-game when asked if he thought he would ever become an AFL premiership player while playing for South Barwon.
Tom Stewart celebrates with Mark Blicavs (left).Credit:AFL Photos
“I can still remember literally my first [AFL] game, not sleeping the night before and thinking, ‘If I play one game I’ll be the proudest man on Earth’.
“To come here, to share it with my family, everything that they give me, everything we’ve been through, the journey we’ve been on – you’d be fixed to find a happier bloke, I think.
“It’s a dream come true – every cliche I can wheel out right now. But I’m just so grateful and so thankful that the Geelong footy club took a punt on me, and to achieve this with this group after all the naysayers we’ve had, I’m just so proud.”
The Cats endured a decade full of near-misses before finally breaking through for their elusive 10th premiership on Saturday, with five preliminary final losses and a grand final defeat in the previous 10 years.
And Stewart praised the club’s determination to never entertain a full rebuild, and keep persisting by topping up with older players, until eventually achieving the ultimate success with the oldest selected side in VFL/AFL history which had an average age of 28 years and 173 days.
“Our board, our coaching staff are fixed and firm believers that you play footy to win,” Stewart said.
“We were never going to go back and rebuild and try that route.
“We’re a bunch of misfits, if you like. Our whole team used to be coined defenders, but we’ve picked and chosen a few blokes that have come in and played such unbelievable roles for us.
“There’s an array of characters in this group and I couldn’t be happier, and I couldn’t be more proud to wear this jumper first and foremost and this medal around my neck.
“I don’t think anything could be more satisfying than this feeling right now … it’s surreal at the moment, it genuinely is, and I am so, so happy.”
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