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.