Harley overwhelmed by accolade

WHEN Geelong captain Tom Harley walked up to accept the vice-captaincy of the All-Australian side on Monday night, he admitted he felt "uncomfortable".

Not because he was embarrassed or because it was an accolade he felt he didn't deserve. It was because of the enormity of the moment, and the fact Carlton star Chris Judd was standing alongside him as his fellow leader.

"It was such a spur of the moment sort of thing," a surprised Harley said, after learning of his first All-Australian honour and deputy skippering role.  

"I've been captain of Geelong for 18 months, and to make the All-Australian team for the first time at 30 and to have a leadership position, at the time it felt pretty uncomfortable.

"Not as in disrespectful to the position; I'm absolutely thrilled, but in the past two weeks my player honours list has gone from absolutely nothing to a couple of really touching awards.

Harley said leading a side isn't something he's entirely unfamiliar with, or unwilling to do. His year and a half at the helm of Geelong has ensured that.

But the fact he was being lumped together in the same category as Judd, along with the way it came on the back of the AFLPA's Most Valuable Captain Award he received last week, hit Harley all at once.

It reaffirmed he's part of something great at Geelong, and emphasised how much his status as a player – and as a leader – has skyrocketed in the past two years.

"Leadership is something that sits really comfortably with me at a club level, but I guess all players are the same," he said.

"I was speaking to Judd before and he was taken aback by his position, and I was thinking he's Chris Judd, a Brownlow Medallist and three-time All-Australian. If anyone is going to be captain, he is.

"But I don't know if you noticed when he was on stage, he was a bit lost for words too.

"I think any sort of accolade like that is pretty humbling, and I'm just rapt."