The 30-year-old, who is second longest-serving Cat behind Peter Riccardi, is confident he’ll be able to run out against Adelaide at Skilled Stadium a very proud man.
“I’m actually proud I’ve been able to play the 200 games with the one club, because the Geelong Football Club has been a big part of my life and I’ve loved every minute of being part of it,” Graham said on Wednesday.
“Obviously, we’ve had some good times and some tough times but what I’ve achieved throughout my career … to be able to play so many games in the sport that I love, I’m quite proud.”
He described the injury, sustained during the second quarter of Sunday’s loss to Fremantle, as a minor thing and was confident a week of rehabilitation and recovery would do the trick.
“The groin is pretty good, so I’m preparing to play this week,” Graham said before training at Skilled Stadium on Wednesday.
Graham reflected on his first AFL game, which was also at Skilled Stadium, against Essendon in round 21, 1993, when he lined up on his first opponent – Paul Salmon.
“It seems a long time ago now,” Graham said.
Although Graham was dropped the following week, for the final home-and-away game of 1993, he said that then coach Malcolm Blight gave him some words of wisdom on his omission.
“I’ll always remember something that Malcolm Blight said to me as coach,” Graham said.
“It was before the game and he said ‘Righto son, we’ve decided not to play you today. Stephen O’Reilly has come back into the team for team balance’.”
“He said ‘be disappointed, but don’t be disillusioned’ and they always stuck with me, those words.”
Graham played eight games under Blight and 99 when Gary Ayres, who he described as having a major impact on his career, was at the helm. However, he was adamant that incumbent Mark Thompson was the senior coach to have the shaped the way he’s gone about his footy most.
“I think Mark Thompson – in his four years here – and I was captain for three of those, has probably been the greatest influence on my career over the three coaches’ I’ve had,” Graham said.
Graham said that the 1995 finals series was his greatest team highlight – when Geelong made the grand final but was subsequently thrashed by Carlton – but added that several individual milestones also ranked right up there with his 200 games.
“Personally, it’s been captaining this club for three years and winning the best-and-fairest in ’99 and in that same year playing for Australia, which was a highlight,” Graham said.
