SLOW START TO TRADE WEEK / CAMERON LING WINS BEST AND FAIREST / JOEL COREY HEADING TO IRELAND
B Jensen 5 October 2004

CAMERON LING has won Geelong's best and fairest, overtaking last year's winner and dual All Australian full back Matthew Scarlett in the final series. Ling finished with 597 votes, Scarlett 549. Popular defender/midfielder Darren Milburn was a further 35 votes back on 514.

The win caps off a great season for Ling, who narrowly missed All Australian selection. Former Geelong Falcons captain Ling lead Geelong in almost every statistic bar goalkicking. He managed sixteen of those, too, including three in the finals series. Ling averaged more than thirty possessions in each of the three finals, showing his home and away season form was no fluke.

Solid backman Tom Harley finished forth, the much improved Cameron Mooney fifth, Joel Corey sixth, and James Bartel, seventh. Bartel was Geelong's highest vote getter in the Brownlow Medal. Gary Ablett, Paul Chapman and Ben Graham rounded out the top ten.

In the VFL, captain James Byrne was the winner, from the other Byrne, Danny (second), and James Rahilly (third).

TRADE WEEK has so far been uninspiring; the stupid rumours of who will get what to enable Brad Ottens to come to Geelong have not eventuated, and in all likelihood will come to nothing. Come late Friday morning, there should be some more news for Geelong fans, until then, forums such as Bigfooty, radio stations such as SEN116 and 3AW will be inundated with rumours, etc.

If Brad Ottens does make it to Geelong, expect another club such as Essendon or Collingwood to be involved; the Cats may end up drafting Ottens via the pre season draft, and obtain a pick from a team like Collingwood or Adelaide. Or, a team like Essendon may be involved in a genuine three way trade. Whatever happens, the Cats will have to give up somebody who we'd like to keep.

FINALLY, Joel Corey, sixth in the Carji Greeves medal, has been called up to the Australian team to play in the International Rules series in Ireland. Corey was one of Geelong's best in the final two months of the season and should serve his country well. Corey is Geelong's only representative this season, after Matthew Scarlett and Gary Ablett were unavailable. Scarlett is suspended after belting the shisenhousen out of an Irish player last season while Ablett is believed to be on a holiday.

Most determined & most dedicated player: Steven King
Best team & most constructive player: Gary Ablett
Most improved player: David Wojcinski
Best first year player: Kane Tenace
Leading goal kicker: Kent Kingsley
Best clubman: Peter Riccardi
Most Brownlow Medal votes: James Bartel
Coach’s award: Cameron Mooney
Community champion: Kent Kingsley

COMING SOON - THE CATTERY'S END OF SEASON NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIBE

LINGINATOR WINS CARJI GREEVES MEDAL

TOP TEN

1 Cameron Ling – 597
2 Matthew Scarlett – 549
3 Darren Milburn – 514
4 Tom Harley – 420
5 Cameron Mooney – 392
6 Joel Corey – 384
7 James Bartel – 375
8 Gary Ablett – 373
9 Paul Chapman – 332
10 Ben Graham – 314

VFL
1 James Byrne
2 Danny Byrne
3 James Rahilly