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Missing the AFL finals is a rare experience for Geelong\u2019s footballers in the modern era, but they\u2019re no stranger to Mad Monday frivolity and were never going to miss an opportunity to poke fun at the most contentious moment of the season.<\/p>\n
Making their way into an eatery on the Geelong waterfront for their team\u2019s annual end-of-season celebrations, Tom Hawkins and Cam Guthrie, both dressed as two goal posts, and Isaac Smith, dressed as Adelaide Crows\u2019 Ben Keays, had an announcement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a performance,\u201d they told the journalists and photographers waiting outside the Wharf Shed on Monday morning.<\/p>\n
Soon after, the press pack were watching a live rendition of Keays\u2019 shot at goal during the round 23 match against Sydney, and the notorious umpiring blunder that doomed the Crows\u2019 chances of making finals.<\/p>\n
It was not the only contentious moment from season 2023 relived on Monday morning. Max Holmes, dressed as AFL broadcaster Gerard Wheatley, arrived with Gryan Miers as soccer great Lionel Messi.<\/p>\n
The two were referencing a social media storm that emerged mid-season when a quote was attributed to Whateley, comparing Miers to the soccer luminary. It was a comment that attracted widespread criticism for the broadcaster until he clarified that it was fake and he\u2019d never made it.<\/p>\n
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Geelong\u2019s Max Holmes and Gryan Miers dressed up for the end-of-season frivolity.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Darrian Traynor<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cDelete the tweet,\u201d Holmes said, holding up a sign with Whateley\u2019s response to the fake quote printed. (\u201cI never said this and it should be removed #fakequote,\u201d it read).<\/p>\n An amused Miers\/Messi walked next to him, letting the sign, and his dressed-up pal, do all the talking.<\/p>\n Others who made their way to the cafe \u2013 the kind of place Geelong retirees frequent on a Monday morning for a cappuccino \u2013 were not as invested in the festivities.<\/p>\n \u201cDidn\u2019t kill myself this year with the dress-up,\u201d Zach Tuohy admitted sheepishly, dressed in a black tracksuit set and red reindeer ears.<\/p>\n Geelong players arrive for their Book Week-style Mad Monday season wake.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Darrian Traynor<\/cite><\/p>\n After a season-ending loss to St Kilda, it\u2019s perhaps no surprise this year\u2019s theatrics were more subdued than last year\u2019s celebrations.<\/p>\n On that occasion, about 11 months ago, the Cats\u2019 players walked into the same cafe as 2022 premiers, many of them hobbling out of a retirement village mini-van dressed as their elderly alter-egos.<\/p>\n It was their way of gently returning fire at the critics who\u2019d questioned the age of the club\u2019s list before it became the oldest team to win an AFL premiership.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n