Geary the Great: Revered Golden Square skipper to play game 200

TO SAY Jack Geary has packed plenty into his senior career at Golden Square would be a major understatement.

The 31-year-old has put together one of the most accomplished resumes in the Bendigo Football-Netball League during a career that on Saturday as he begins another season at Wade Street reaches the 200-game milestone at home against Kyneton.

It has been a career filled with both team and individual accolades that would be the envy of most country footballers - five premierships, two grand final best-on-ground medals, three best and fairests, Michelsen Medal, inter-league captain, BFNL 2010-19 Team of the Decade skipper, Victoria Country representative and captain.. the list goes on.

Remarkably, those five premierships came in Geary's first five years of senior football between 2009 and 2013, including the first of those flags in senior game number three.

"I pinch myself looking back on that period of time," Geary said this week.

"I had been fortunate that I had been part of successful teams when I was playing juniors and then with those five senior premierships in a row, I suppose you think this is what happens every year.

"But it hasn't been until the last few years when it has been a while since we last won that you realise just how special it was."

In those five grand final wins - 2009 and 2010 against South Bendigo, 2011 (undefeated) against Eaglehawk, 2012 against Gisborne and 2013 against Strathfieldsaye - Geary was twice awarded the Nalder Medal for best-on-ground in 2010 and 2013.

"That whole period of winning those grand finals really is a blur and I suppose being a while ago now you start to feel that you're due again and we feel we are building well," Geary said.

While Geary has become one of the most revered players in Golden Square history, he didn't join the club until under-18s having previously played his junior football with St Therese's and Kennington-Sandhurst.

"I had a meeting with Jamie Hogan and Anthony Holdstock who were co-coaching the under-18s at the time and made the move and I suppose the rest is history," Geary said.

READ MORE: The Addy's top 100 ranked BFNL players of the 2010s decade

"To be honest, I used to hate Golden Square in the juniors because all through my juniors they had really strong teams and were so tough to beat. I used to play against guys like Dale Lowry and Matt Compston (premiership team-mates) through my juniors.

"If you had have asked me when I was playing junior footy would I end up playing at Golden Square I would have said no way, but these days I couldn't imagine being anywhere else.

"The 200 games this week is obviously something special to look back on down the track, but the No.1 priority is to get the win over Kyneton and start the season off well.

"I suppose there has been a bit of fanfare around it and, to be honest, it doesn't sit real well with me, but it does mean a lot to me.

"I look back to when I first started and Christian (Carter) played his 200^th game fairly early in my career.

"No-one had played 200 for a while then and I remember thinking I'd love to do that one day for the club.

"Since then Clayton (Anderson) has done it and there's a few of us who have stuck together and are getting up around the mark now, so from what it was to where it is now in regards to these sort of milestones says a lot about the club."

Having drawn early inspiration from Christian Carter in terms of his loyalty to the club to play 200 games for the Bulldogs, these days Carter is Geary's coach.

"It's a fantastic achievement for Jack to get to 200 games and a milestone we need to applaud," Carter said.

"For a player of his calibre to stay at the one club, in this day and age we don't see a lot of these milestones any more and his CV speaks for itself and to the incredible player he has been and still is.

"The big thing that stands out for me is his competitive nature. I saw him when he turned up as a young 17-year-old and he just set standards from a young age.

"He obviously had a lot of talent, but his work ethic is one that I've never seen in my time in footy."

Geary's previous coach Bernie Haberman describes his work ethic as "the discipline to be disciplined".

"For me, what separates Jack and makes him the player he is is what he does when no-one is around, his discipline to that and not needing any acknowledgement for it," Haberman said.

"For years he has been getting up at 5am and going to the gym at least four mornings a week... he doesn't need anyone else to be there, he just goes and does it.

"Jack is very low maintenance; often the really good players like to have their ego stroked, but that isn't Jack at all. You never hear him brag about the flags he has won or his achievements and the word I keep coming back to when talking about Jack is he is just so disciplined.

"I call it the discipline to being disciplined and that reflects the consistency in his life. He likes winning games of footy, but he doesn't get defined by winning, it's just a part of his life, which he has obviously dedicated a large chunk of time to and is very committed to.

"What separates him from everyone else is his consistency of habits and then you combine that with his natural talents."

Two of Geary's premierships - the 2010 and 2011 triumphs - were coached by Nick Carter, who marvels at his capacity to stand up on the biggest of stages.

"What I look back on with Jack is he is just an absolute warrior on the field and I couldn't recall the amount of times he carried the load in big games," Carter sid.

"But if you push all that to the side, his commitment to the club and playing group has been just enormous.

"There's not a lot of people who have given the commitment he has to the whole club and in reflecting on his career, it would be fair to say he has probably averaged an A in most of the games he has played."

It's a sentiment echoed by Geary's 2013 premiership coach Rick Ladson.

"His professionalism to get himself right to play and train well is second to none," Ladson said.

"He is always looking after his body and his preparation is just elite.

"When I think about Jack as a player, the bigger the game, the better he played and you just didn't see him not step up when it mattered.

"Thinking back to that year in 2013 and the grand final in particular, it was time to shine and he certainly did that...on the big stage you just knew Jack was going to get the job done."

So for all he has achieved in his glittering career at Square, what is left to accomplish for Geary?

"I'd love to be a premiership captain of the club and that's one of the big driving forces of what keeps bringing me back for the start of each pre-season," said Geary, who has captained the Bulldogs since 2015.

"I really like trying to help set the benchmark and drive as many blokes as we can to continue to improve."

Testament to the remarkable consistency of Geary, in the 199 senior games he has played for Golden Square - the majority of which have been in the cut and thrust of the engine room - the club has named him in their best six players in 120 of them.

Castlemaine

Eaglehawk

Gisborne

Golden Square

Kangaroo Flat

Kyneton

Maryborough

Sandhurst

South Bendigo

Strathfieldsaye

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: