Winning a premiership is special, but winning alongside his brother made it even better for All-Australian Cat Cam Guthrie.
Zach Guthrie, 24, has emerged this season as a regular part of the Geelong back line after six years in the system.
And he has made his older brother proud.
”I’m so, so proud of Zach, just the way that he’s dedicated himself to his footy, he’s determined, he’s improved a lot and he deserves that medal around his neck,” Cam said.
The Guthrie brothers had family in the stands to share the moment with as well. After the game, Zach was still coming to terms with his success.
”To have our family here as well, it’s pretty crazy. It doesn’t feel real at the minute, but to experience it with him [Cam] is awesome,” said Zach.
“I’ve got a lot of other really good mates in the team as well, so, to experience with them is equally as good.”
Cam, 30, said he was feeling quietly confident throughout the week leading into the grand final against Sydney, but it’s not until you do the job that you’re satisfied.
“To be in this position in the rooms, with a medal around my neck, yeah, we’ve done it,” he said.
“We just wanted to take it moment by moment and that was probably a bit of a mantra for us this year and I think we stuck to that all game.
“The way we came out … I thought we really dominated the opposition physically and we were able to convert on the scoreboard and that really put them under the pump.
“It was nice, we put some scoreboard pressure on them early which was good, and I was able to get one too, which was nice.”
Zach praised the season-long team effort, from youngsters to veterans.
“We’ve had a really good mix of some youth that’s come in this year, some players that have come in and played their role. I mean Tyson Stengle, Sam De Koning, they’ve been relatively new to the side this year and they’ve stepped up really well.
“But I think it’s been equally our older players that have been really hungry and they’ve performed as they always do, and I’m equally as wrapt for them.”
Zach said his favourite moment of the game was when captain Joel Selwood kicked a late goal in the final term, putting the icing on the cake of an impressive win.
“I loved Joel’s goal … I reckon he’d kick that one time out of 100, he just chucked it on the boot and it went through and he almost looked emotionally on the ground at the time,” said Zach.
“To have him as the captain of the side … [he’s] someone I really respect in the way he goes about it and I’ve watched him for a long time. I was stoked to see that for him.
“It was pretty impressive and everyone got around him, which was great.”
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