# 2017 Geelong Football Club season

The 2017 Geelong Football Club season was the club's 118th season of senior competition in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club also fielded its reserves team in the Victorian Football League (VFL) for the 18th season. It was also the first time the club fielded a women's team, with the club joining the VFL Women's competition.

## Overview

After retiring as a player at the end of the 2016 season, Corey Enright joined the coaching panel as an assistant coach, replacing Blake Caracella who moved to a senior assistant coaching role with Richmond. Former Western Bulldogs player Brad Johnson also had a short-term specialist coaching role working with the club's forwards during the preseason.

## Season summary
### Regular season

Geelong's 2017 AFL season fixture :
| Round | Date and local time | Opponent | Home | Away | Result | Venue | Attendance | Ladder position |
| Ladder position |||
| 1 | Sunday, 26 March (4:40 pm) | Fremantle | 10.13 (73) | 18.7 (115) | Won by 42 points | Domain Stadium | 34,638 | 2nd |
| 2 | Sunday, 2 April (1:10 pm) | North Melbourne | 17.10 (112) | 17.9 (111) | Won by 1 point | Etihad Stadium | 30,917 | 7th |
| 3 | Saturday, 8 April (4:35 pm) | Melbourne | 20.6 (126) | 13.19 (97) | Won by 29 points | Etihad Stadium | 29,733 | 3rd |
| 4 | Monday, 17 April (3:20 pm) | Hawthorn | 6.12 (48) | 20.14 (134) | Won by 86 points | MCG | 62,360 | 1st |
| 5 | Sunday, 23 April (3:20 pm) | St Kilda | 13.10 (88) | 19.12 (126) | Won by 38 points | Etihad Stadium | 33,884 | 2nd |
| 6 | Sunday, 30 April (3:20 pm) | Collingwood | 11.12 (72) | 15.17 (107) | Lost by 29 points | MCG | 46,457 | 3rd |
| 7 | Saturday, 6 May (7:25 pm) | Gold Coast | 18.16 (124) | 15.9 (99) | Lost by 25 points | Metricon Stadium | 13,648 | 3rd |
| 8 | Saturday, 13 May (7:25 pm) | Essendon | 17.8 (110) | 13.15 (93) | Lost by 17 points | MCG | 57,172 | 5th |
| 9 | Friday, 19 May (7:50 pm) | Western Bulldogs | 16.8 (104) | 12.9 (81) | Won by 23 points | Simonds Stadium | 30,275 | 3rd |
| 10 | Thursday, 25 May (7:20 pm) | Port Adelaide | 11.15 (81) | 11.13 (79) | Won by 2 points | Simonds Stadium | 24,909 | 3rd |
| 11 | Friday, 2 June (7:50 pm) | Adelaide | 13.18 (96) | 10.14 (74) | Won by 22 points | Simonds Stadium | 30,468 | 3rd |
| 12 | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye | 3rd |
| 13 | Thursday, 15 June (6:10 pm) | West Coast | 11.17 (83) | 10.10 (70) | Lost by 13 points | Domain Stadium | 35,719 | 3rd |
| 14 | Sunday, 25 June (1:10 pm) | Fremantle | 10.14 (74) | 11.6 (72) | Won by 2 points | Simonds Stadium | 29,928 | 3rd |
| 15 | Saturday, 1 July (7:25 pm) | Greater Western Sydney | 10.8 (68) | 10.8 (68) | Match drawn | Spotless Stadium | 15,007 | 3rd |
| 16 | Saturday, 8 July (7:25 pm) | Brisbane Lions | 11.12 (78) | 25.13 (163) | Won by 85 points | The Gabba | 18,769 | 3rd |
| 17 | Saturday, 15 July (1:45 pm) | Hawthorn | 13.10 (88) | 12.13 (85) | Won by 3 points | MCG | 70,345 | 2nd |
| 18 | Friday, 21 July (7:20 pm) | Adelaide | 13.13 (91) | 10.10 (70) | Lost by 21 points | Adelaide Oval | 50,464 | 2nd |
| 19 | Saturday, 29 July (7:25 pm) | Carlton | 8.10 (58) | 18.15 (123) | Won by 65 points | Etihad Stadium | 35,460 | 2nd |
| 20 | Friday, 4 August (7:50 pm) | Sydney | 8.13 (61) | 16.11 (107) | Lost by 46 points | Simonds Stadium | 30,833 | 4th |
| 21 | Saturday, 12 August (2:10 pm) | Richmond | 11.14 (80) | 9.12 (66) | Won by 14 points | Simonds Stadium | 32,266 | 3rd |
| 22 | Saturday, 19 August (2:10 pm) | Collingwood | 9.5 (59) | 10.10 (70) | Won by 11 points | MCG | 47,889 | 3rd |
| 23 | Sunday, 27 August (TBC) | Greater Western Sydney | 15.13 (103) | 8.11 (59) | Won by 44 points | Simonds Stadium | 30,087 | 2nd |

#### Ladder

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | L | D | PF | PA | PP | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Adelaide | 22 | 15 | 6 | 1 | 2415 | 1776 | 136.0 | 62 | 2017 finals |
| 2 | Geelong | 22 | 15 | 6 | 1 | 2134 | 1818 | 117.4 | 62 | 2017 finals |
| 3 | Richmond (P) | 22 | 15 | 7 | 0 | 1992 | 1684 | 118.3 | 60 | 2017 finals |
| 4 | Greater Western Sydney | 22 | 14 | 6 | 2 | 2081 | 1812 | 114.8 | 60 | 2017 finals |
| 5 | Port Adelaide | 22 | 14 | 8 | 0 | 2168 | 1671 | 129.7 | 56 | 2017 finals |
| 6 | Sydney | 22 | 14 | 8 | 0 | 2093 | 1651 | 126.8 | 56 | 2017 finals |
| 7 | Essendon | 22 | 12 | 10 | 0 | 2135 | 2004 | 106.5 | 48 | 2017 finals |
| 8 | West Coast | 22 | 12 | 10 | 0 | 1964 | 1858 | 105.7 | 48 | 2017 finals |
| 9 | Melbourne | 22 | 12 | 10 | 0 | 2035 | 1934 | 105.2 | 48 | |
| 10 | Western Bulldogs | 22 | 11 | 11 | 0 | 1857 | 1913 | 97.1 | 44 | |
| 11 | St Kilda | 22 | 11 | 11 | 0 | 1925 | 1986 | 96.9 | 44 | |
| 12 | Hawthorn | 22 | 10 | 11 | 1 | 1864 | 2055 | 90.7 | 42 | |
| 13 | Collingwood | 22 | 9 | 12 | 1 | 1944 | 1963 | 99.0 | 38 | |
| 14 | Fremantle | 22 | 8 | 14 | 0 | 1607 | 2160 | 74.4 | 32 | |
| 15 | North Melbourne | 22 | 6 | 16 | 0 | 1983 | 2264 | 87.6 | 24 | |
| 16 | Carlton | 22 | 6 | 16 | 0 | 1594 | 2038 | 78.2 | 24 | |
| 17 | Gold Coast | 22 | 6 | 16 | 0 | 1756 | 2311 | 76.0 | 24 | |
| 18 | Brisbane Lions | 22 | 5 | 17 | 0 | 1877 | 2526 | 74.3 | 20 | |

## Honours
### Milestones

* Round 1 - Brandan Parfitt (AFL debut), Tom Stewart (AFL debut), Zach Tuohy (Geelong debut)
* Round 3 - James Parsons (AFL debut)
* Round 5 - Aaron Black (Geelong debut)

### Others

* Round 3 - Brandan Parfitt (2017 AFL Rising Star nomination)

## VFL Women's team

2017 was the first season of women's Australian rules football contested by the Geelong Football Club, with the club competing in the second season of the VFL Women's competition, after failing to secure a licence to compete in the inaugural AFL Women's competition that began in 2017.

### Background

The first season of the VFL Women's (VFLW) league was held in 2016, and consisted of ten teams from the now-defunct Victorian Women's Football League.
In October 2016, Geelong announced that they would be taking over the licence to operate a VFL Women's team, replacing the Geelong Magpies who had competed in the 2016 season.

### Season summary

Paul Hood was appointed the club's inaugural VFLW coach, having previously coached Geelong's VFL team in 2015. Rebecca Goring was appointed captain, with Maddie Boyd and Lily Mithen named as co-vice captains. Mithen won the club's VFLW best and fairest award for the season. The club would finish the season fifth on the ladder, not qualifying for the finals.

### Results

Key :
| H | Home game |
| A | Away game |
Table of season results :
| Round | Date | Result | Score | Score | Score | Opponent | Score | Score | Score | Ground | Ground |
| Round | Date | Result | G | B | T | Opponent | G | B | T | Ground | Ground |
| 1 | 6 May | Won | 9 | 4 | 58 | Box Hill Hawks | 0 | 2 | 2 | Simonds Stadium | H |
| 2 | 13 May | Won | 11 | 7 | 73 | Seaford | 4 | 2 | 26 | Shell Road Reserve, Ocean Grove | H |
| 3 | 28 May | Won | 3 | 5 | 23 | Cranbourne | 2 | 4 | 16 | Frenken Homes Oval (Casey Fields No 2) | A |
| 4 | 4 June | Lost | 2 | 3 | 15 | Darebin | 11 | 11 | 77 | Plenty War Memorial Park | A |
| 5 | 18 June | Lost | 3 | 2 | 20 | VU Western Spurs | 7 | 5 | 47 | Henry Turner Memorial Reserve, Footscray | A |
| 6 | 25 June | Lost | 3 | 2 | 20 | Melbourne University | 8 | 8 | 56 | Anthony Costa Oval, Geelong | H |
| 7 | 2 July | Lost | 4 | 0 | 24 | St Kilda Sharks | 4 | 8 | 32 | Deakin University, Waurn Ponds | H |
| 8 | 29 June | Won | 9 | 8 | 62 | Seaford | 2 | 3 | 15 | R F Miles Recreation Reserve, Seaford | A |
| 9 | 16 July | Won | 11 | 6 | 72 | Cranbourne | 4 | 2 | 26 | Osborne Park, North Geelong | H |
| 10 | 29 July | Lost | 1 | 1 | 7 | Darebin | 2 | 8 | 20 | IKON Park | A |
| 11 | 5 August | Won | 4 | 5 | 29 | Box Hill Hawks | 2 | 3 | 15 | Box Hill City Oval | A |
| 12 | 12 August | Won | 6 | 5 | 41 | VU Western Spurs | 1 | 3 | 9 | Anthony Costa Oval, Geelong | H |
| 13 | 20 August | Won | 11 | 8 | 74 | Eastern Devils | 5 | 5 | 35 | Deakin University, Waurn Ponds | H |
| 14 | 27 August | Lost | 4 | 3 | 27 | Eastern Devils | 8 | 7 | 55 | Mulgrave Reserve | A |

### Ladder

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | D | PF | PA | PP | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Darebin (P) | 14 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 873 | 319 | 273.7 | 48 | Finals series |
| 2 | Diamond Creek | 14 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 803 | 421 | 190.7 | 48 | Finals series |
| 3 | Melbourne University | 14 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 755 | 414 | 182.4 | 40 | Finals series |
| 4 | St Kilda Sharks | 14 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 749 | 493 | 151.9 | 40 | Finals series |
| 5 | Geelong Cats | 14 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 545 | 431 | 126.5 | 32 | |
| 6 | Western Spurs | 14 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 563 | 584 | 96.4 | 28 | |
| 7 | Eastern Devils | 14 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 684 | 708 | 96.6 | 20 | |
| 8 | Box Hill | 14 | 3 | 11 | 0 | 382 | 718 | 53.2 | 12 | |
| 9 | Cranbourne | 14 | 3 | 11 | 0 | 298 | 889 | 33.5 | 12 | |
| 10 | Seaford | 14 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 260 | 935 | 27.8 | 0 | |

### Awards

* Best & Fairest: Lily Mithen
* VFL Women’s Team of the Year: Richelle Cranston (Wing), Lily Mithen (Half forward)