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Humble, Proud, and Brilliant: The Legend of Stephen Wells
Stephen Wells reflects on his nearly four decades at Kardinia Park in the latest episode of Legends of Kardinia Park
If you spend any time with Stephen Wells, you are immediately struck by how humble he is.
Genuinely humble.
He politely re-directs any conversation about his remarkable record of achievement across his 39 years at the Cats and defers credit to others where he can.
In the lead up to the 2023 AFL Draft, Wells sat down with Geelong premiership captain Cameron Ling for a wide-ranging interview as part of the Legends of Kardinia Park series, thanks to McCafe.
Unsurprisingly, Wells’s mind is a treasure trove of stories and anecdotes about some of the greatest players in Geelong history.
He talks about Gary Ablett Jnr’s first summer at Kardinia Park and the moment they knew ‘Little Gaz’ as he calls him was special, to the decision to select key defender Harry Taylor over Scott Selwood, despite having the reigning All-Australian Centre Half Back in Matt Egan already on the list.
And the follow-up phone call to Bryce Selwood to explain why Scott wouldn’t be coming to Geelong.
Then there was the time he and premiership coach Mark Thompson took a road trip to visit the homes of young prospects James Kelly and Steve Johnson. You might have heard of them.
“We went to a lot of different houses, but we did go to the Kellys and we did go to the Johnsons, and Mark and I both agreed when we came out of there that they were two of the sort of players that we’d like to have at our club”, he recalls with a laugh.
Wells has had his fingerprints all over all four of the premierships since 2007 and every other success Geelong has enjoyed on the field over the past four decades, and most would agree that he deserves every bit of the praise that comes his way.
But if you really want to understand ‘Wellsy’ as he is affectionately known by virtually everyone in the industry, it’s in how much he cares for his footy club and how much he cares for the people who go through it.
“It’s a results based business, and not only do we want players to have good, long careers, but we want them to play in a lot of winning games and help us win premierships,” he said.
“But I feel just as strongly about the ‘stars’ of our team, the guys that play in three premierships, or captains, as I do about the fellas that play a few games and actually made the most of their opportunity because they weren’t quite at the level, but they gave absolutely everything they possibly could.”
But If you really want to understand the depths of what his football club means to him, ask him about 2007. The year the Cats finally broke the drought.
It’s clearly personal for him, and talking to Ling, he is disarmingly apologetic as raw emotion gets the better of him.
The tears, it seems, surprise even him.
“I feel a bit emotional (talking about it)” he said.
“You said before about being a Geelong barracker, and… Yeah, I barracked for the footy club and it was a culmination of a lot of work with a lot of great people.
“But as a Geelong barracker, I couldn’t do anything on Grand Final day. I was just there watching with my family and having a great time watching the Cats win that premiership.
“You told me you wouldn’t make me cry!”