Great role players appreciate the strengths of others, but they do not resent their talent; they seek to amplify it, understanding their own efforts will often go unseen as a result. Rarely will they receive the public recognition reserved for their higher-profile teammates, and they are fine with that.

The way he sees life is that it will continually deal us hands of cards. Some hands are better than others, but it’s up to us to choose how we play those cards, and whilst we think we know, it is our response in the moment which is the measure.

Steele Sidebottom is pure footballer, has the ‘footy chip’ as we like to describe it. The game chose him. He plays with a pure love of the game and with joy in an often joyless world that seems keen to retire him, or at least reduce what he still brings.

But they went about redefining both the question and the answer, creating a different dialogue, if only to take the conversation forward, driving a wedge between the old and new way, and those caught in between.

Wallsy's journey reminds us that the game's greatest gift is the people whose paths we cross, and I am grateful, as are so many others, for the conversations we got to have.

The game is at its best when it leads, finding the collective courage to forge a new way. It is at its worst when it lags, but can often get lost in between.

The desperate lunge resulted in a tackle that might have been holding the ball, but the umpire called a trip. A moment of heroism, paradoxically punished. Fair? I am not sure. The game, like life, does not promise to be fair.

After five straight losses to start the 2025 season, watching Max Gawn, whom my drawing celebrates, dominate in the Anzac Eve clash against Richmond, earning himself another Checker Hughes Medal, you could see a leader who understands that there are no easy answers.

A key lesson I learned the hard way is that no matter how good your culture and strategy seem at any time, all solutions are temporary. When the competitive response comes – as it inevitably will – what stands in your way must become your new way.

They haven't just developed and executed an idea; they've delivered on a promise - the promise of the Geelong Football Club itself. This promise transcends any single season or era, creating an unbroken thread of identity and purpose.

The siren sounding and the game now over simply reveals the next game, another challenge, another moment that demands we find more in and of ourselves. In these moments, it is best to remind yourself that leadership isn't a 'got to' thing; it is a 'get to' thing.

Great leaders have the capacity to 'unlock' performance from both the individual and the team, often by recognising capability and opportunity they are yet to see in themselves, and then by providing a pathway to achieve it.

Within a team environment, loyalty manifests through mutual growth, shared struggles, and collective development. The strongest teams understand that each player's evolution contributes to the whole, creating a culture where individual decisions are respected when made authentically.

Leadership, if you’re prepared to embrace all its expectations, will pick you up somewhere and leave you somewhere else. It isn't about being ready—it's about being present to what each moment asks of you.

The belief and the confidence to stay true, to make your leadership an expression of who you are, is the true definition of authentic leadership. It is fine in theory but so difficult in practice when all eyes are on you.