Gregory Donald Williams (born 30 September 1963) is a former Australian rules footballer who represented , the Sydney Swans and in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the 1980s and 1990s. A midfielder, he is a dual Brownlow Medal winner and at his peak was the then-highest-paid player in the history of the sport, including an under-the-table $200,000 bonus payment. He was also linked to further controversy during the 1990s.
Playing style Williams made his name as one of the best centres in the history of the game. He was particularly skilful at handpassing, and was the most prolific user of the skill during his era. The hallmark of Williams' play was his ability to win ground contests, and almost immediately free the ball to nearby teammates via quick, accurate handpassing. To that end, Williams' other strengths included his vision and awareness of the teammates around him; he is said to have been heavily involved in midfield tactics at ball-ups. His kicking and ball winning skills were also strong.
Williams strengths outweighed several negative physical characteristics which could have hindered his career as a footballer. Most notably, he was a slow runner; he had been knock-kneed as a child and his pace was not helped by five knee surgeries throughout his career. He was also short, stocky and carried extra weight early in his career.
Williams earned the nickname "Diesel", after the nickname of John Riggins, an American NFL player whose motivational tapes were used by Williams' first Victorian Football League (VFL) Geelong captain Michael Turner, and remains widely used.
Playing career
Before the VFL The third of eight children, Williams spent his early life in Melbourne, before moving to Bendigo at the age of 10. There, he played football for the Golden Square Football Club in the Bendigo Football League, earning strong acclaim at junior levels, representing Victoria in the Teal Cup in 1980.
Prior to the 1982 VFL season, Williams trained in the pre-season with the Carlton Football Club (to which the Bendigo Football League was zoned), but the Blues ultimately rejected him, deterred by his lack of speed and fitness. He returned to Golden Square for the season, winning the Michelsen Medal as league best and fairest. Carlton invited him to try out again in the 1983 pre-season, but again he was rejected. He returned to Golden Square, and once again he won the Michelsen Medal.
Geelong As Carlton had passed on Williams, other VFL clubs were able to recruit him, and prior to the 1984 VFL season he was recruited to , then under coach Tom Hafey. Williams made his debut in Round 1 and amassed 38 disposals, and scored three Brownlow votes. He played twelve matches in his first season, missing much of the year with a knee injury. In his second season, he played every match, won the VFL Players Association MVP Award and the Carji Greeves Medal. He set new records for handpassing, with 399 handpasses for the season – a record which would stand until 2006 – and with 28 handpasses in the Round 22 match against Fitzroy – a record which would be tied several times, but not broken until 2008.
Sydney Swans At the end of 1985, when Hafey took the job as coach of the Sydney Swans after being sacked by Geelong, Williams was promptly offered a sizeable contract to follow Hafey to Sydney. Williams was reported to have been offered roughly double the money he was on at Geelong. Williams accepted, and the deal was done with a transfer fee of $120,000 between the clubs, which was much less than the $200,000 that Geelong had sought.
Williams continued his strong form into his career with Sydney. In 1986, his first season there, Williams won the Brownlow Medal in a tie with 's Robert DiPierdomenico, and made the All-Australian team for the first time; he would back this up with his second All-Australian selection in 1987, and he placed third for the Brownlow in 1989. In Round 19, 1989, Williams amassed 53 disposals, which is the second highest ever recorded in a VFL/AFL match; it included another haul of 28 handpasses, and his career best tally of six goals.
Transfer to Carlton During 1991, Williams decided that he wanted to return to Melbourne the following season, and and emerged as the two potential candidates. Since the introduction of the AFL draft in 1986, Williams' move would need to take place as a trade, rather than with a transfer fee as had been the case under his first move. Ultimately, St Kilda was not willing to agree to Sydney's requested trade, which would have included future dual-Brownlow Medallist Robert Harvey, and as a result Williams was traded to Carlton. In the end, a three-way trade involving Fitzroy was negotiated, with Simon Minton-Connell traded from Carlton to Sydney, Darren Kappler traded from Fitzroy to Sydney, Peter Sartori and Ashley Matthews traded from Carlton to Fitzroy, and Williams traded from Sydney to Carlton. Williams was estimated to be on a contract worth more than $300,000 per year (), which was then the highest contract in the history of the sport.
Carlton After a solid 1992, Williams returned to career-best form for Carlton in 1993 and 1994. He finished second in the Brownlow Medal in 1993, one vote behind winner Gavin Wanganeen. In 1994, he polled 30 votes to win the award; he was the tenth player to win the Brownlow Medal twice, and the third to do so at different clubs. Additionally in 1994, he won the AFL Players Association MVP Award for the second time, becoming the first player to win the award twice; he won the Robert Reynolds Trophy as Carlton's best and fairest for the only time in his career. He was also All-Australian in both 1993 and 1994 – the former as vice-captain, and the latter as captain. He won the first and only premiership of his VFL/AFL career with Carlton in 1995, and he won the Norm Smith Medal with five goals in the Grand Final. He was the first player to win a Brownlow Medal, Premiership Medallion, and Norm Smith Medal across his career.
Williams played two more seasons, before retiring at the end of a controversial 1997 season which saw a protracted legal battle between the AFL and Carlton over a suspension Williams received from the tribunal. He finished his career with 250 senior games: 34 with Geelong, 107 with Sydney, 109 with Carlton and 9 for Victoria in State of Origin matches. In his league career he accumulated 3600 handpasses; this was more than five hundred more than any other player before him, so prolific was his use of handpass, and it remained the record until 2006. As of the end of the 2024 season, his career average of 26.9 disposals per game remains the record for retired players, and his career average of 14.4 handpasses per game was the record among retired players until the retirement of Daniel Cross in 2015.
Statistics
Led the league for the season onlyLed the league after finals onlyLed the league after season and finals
|-style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1984 |style="text-align:center;"| | 11 || 12 || 4 || 5 || 154 || 158 || 312 || 37 || || 0.3 || 0.4 || 12.8 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 13.2 || 26.0 || 3.1 || |- ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1985 |style="text-align:center;"| | 11 || 22 || 6 || 8 || 276 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 399 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 675 || 81 || || 0.3 || 0.4 || 12.5 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 18.1 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 30.7 || 3.7 || |-style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1986 |style="text-align:center;"| | 2 || 24 || 28 || 21 || 311 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 379 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 690 || 90 || || 1.2 || 0.9 || 13.0 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 15.8 || 28.8 || 3.8 || |- ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1987 |style="text-align:center;"| | 2 || 22 || 21 || 11 || 255 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 332 || 587 || 56 || 46 || 1.0 || 0.5 || 11.6 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 15.1 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 26.7 || 2.5 || 2.2 |-style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1988 |style="text-align:center;"| | 2 || 18 || 20 || 14 || 280 || bgcolor="CFECEC"| 249 || 529 || 64 || 34 || 1.1 || 0.8 || 15.6 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 13.8 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 29.4 || 3.6 || 1.9 |- ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1989 |style="text-align:center;"| | 2 || 17 || 19 || 23 || 214 || bgcolor="CFECEC"| 258 || 472 || 63 || 28 || 1.1 || 1.4 || 12.6 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 15.2 || 27.8 || 3.7 || 1.6 |-style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1990 |style="text-align:center;"| | 2 || 11 || 17 || 6 || 164 || 185 || 349 || 46 || 18 || 1.5 || 0.5 || 14.9 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 16.8 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 31.7 || 4.2 || 1.6 |- ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1991 |style="text-align:center;"| | 2 || 15 || 13 || 16 || 163 || 249 || 412 || 44 || 21 || 0.9 || 1.1 || 10.9 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 16.6 || 27.5 || 2.9 || 1.1 |-style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1992 |style="text-align:center;"| | 2 || 16 || 2 || 10 || 204 || 185 || 389 || 58 || 28 || 0.1 || 0.6 || 12.8 || 11.6 || 24.3 || 3.6 || 1.8 |- ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1993 |style="text-align:center;"| | 2 || 23 || 21 || 9 || 297 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 367 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 664 || 84 || 29 || 0.9 || 0.4 || 12.9 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 16.0 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 28.9 || 3.7 || 1.3 |-style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1994 |style="text-align:center;"| | 2 || 22 || 15 || 12 || 278 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 364 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 642 || 56 || 40 || 0.7 || 0.5 || 12.6 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 16.5 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 29.2 || 2.5 || 1.8 |- | scope=row bgcolor=F0E68C | 1995# || | 2 || 17 || 29 || 15 || 185 || 179 || 364 || 63 || 21 || 1.7 || 0.9 || 10.9 || 10.5 || 21.4 || 3.7 || 1.2 |-style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1996 |style="text-align:center;"| | 2 || 18 || 11 || 7 || 169 || 161 || 330 || 51 || 18 || 0.6 || 0.4 || 9.4 || 8.9 || 18.3 || 2.8 || 1.0 |- ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1997 |style="text-align:center;"| | 2 || 13 || 11 || 9 || 171 || 135 || 306 || 52 || 20 || 0.8 || 0.7 || 13.2 || 10.4 || 23.5 || 4.0 || 1.5 |- class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3| Career ! 250 ! 217 ! 166 ! 3121 ! 3600 ! 6721 ! 845 ! 303 ! 0.9 ! 0.7 ! 12.5 ! 14.4 ! 26.9 ! 3.4 ! 1.6
Honours and achievements Brownlow Medal votes Season Votes 1984 7 1985 15 1986 17 1987 13 1988 2 1989 16 1990 7 1991 8 1992 6 1993 17 1994 30 1995 6 1996 7 1997 3 Total 154 Key: Green / Bold = Won
Team AFL Premiership (Carlton): 1995 McClelland Trophy (Carlton): 1995 Ansett Australia Cup (Carlton): 1997 Individual 2× Brownlow Medal: 1986, 1994 2× Leigh Matthews Trophy (AFLPA MVP Award): 1985, 1994 4× All-Australian: 1986, 1987, 1993, 1994 John Nicholls Medal: 1994 Australian Football Media Association Player of the Year Award: 1994 2× Herald Sun Player of the Year Award: 1993, 1994 Norm Smith Medal: 1995 Australian Football Hall of Fame Inductee: 2001 Carlton Football Club Hall of Fame Inductee: 1999 Sydney Swans Hall of Fame Inductee: 2009 AFL Team of the Century - Interchange Bench Carlton Football Club Team of the Century – Centre South Melbourne/Sydney Swans Team of the Century – Centre
Controversy Williams was a controversial figure during his career.
Tribunal record Williams frequently found himself in trouble with umpires and had many tribunal appearances – often as the result of overzealous retaliation against his taggers. He was charged a total of 19 times, found guilty 12 times, and suspended for a total of 34 matches during his career. He was also known for his generally impolite treatment of umpires, and the Tribunal found him guilty of verbally abusing an umpire on three occasions, for which he was twice fined and once suspended.
Illegal player payments