The 2024 Geelong Football Club season was the club's 160th season playing Australian rules football, with the club competing in their 125th season in the Australian Football League (AFL). Geelong continued to field a women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, and men's and women's reserves team in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and the VFL Women's (VFLW) respectively. Club news Announced in April and May, followed by a gala dinner held in June; the club elevated 2011 premiership captain Cameron Ling to legend status in the Geelong Football Club Hall of Fame; also inducting two-time premiership players Harry Taylor and Travis Varcoe as members. Dual premiership and current coach Chris Scott was also added to the Hall of Fame.
In late May it was confirmed that Geelong Football Club president Craig Drummond will step down from the board at the annual general meeting to be held in December. Drummond had been president since taking over from Colin Carter in 2020, and had been a board member since 2011. Grant McCabe was nominated to replace Drummond as president, with fellow board member and vice president Diane Taylor stepping down from the board in early June after being overlooked to replace Drummond.
Renee Garing and Kate Darby were also made life members of the club at the dinner celebrating the Geelong Football Club Hall of Fame inductees, the first women's players to be afforded the honour. Additionally, Patrick Dangerfield, Tom Stewart, Zach Tuohy, Rhys Stanley, Jed Bews, Brandan Parfitt, Mark O'Connor, Jack Henry, Jake Kolodjashnij, Tom Atikins, and Gryan Miers were afforded life member status.
Former club president Colin Carter was awarded the RJ Hickey Award for his service to Australian football stretching back to 1985.
The club also signed up 90,798 members an increase of over 8,000 from last season's record tally.
Financially, the club posted a net profit of , with the completion of the Joel Selwood Stand assisting with increases to gross revenue.
AFL team
Season summary
It was the club's 14th AFL season under senior coach Chris Scott, with Patrick Dangerfield continuing as club captain.
With the unveiling of the Joel Selwood Stand and the completion of stadium redevelopments, the crowd of 39,352 for the Geelong's home opener against was the largest crowd for a VFL/AFL match at GMHBA Stadium since 1981.
In contrast to 2023, Geelong started the season with three straight wins, celebrating Tom Hawkins' 350th AFL match with a victory over at the MCG on Easter Monday. That match was interrupted by an approximately 40 minute delay before the start of the final quarter due to nearby lightning.
The winning streak extended to seven matches, the club's best start to the season since the 2013 season.
The attendance of 87,775 at the club's round 7 designated home match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground was the highest in club history.
The club's four match losing streak from rounds 8 to 11 was the first time the team had lost four straight matches during the tenure of Chris Scott.
In round 12, club stalwart Tom Hawkins broke former captain Joel Selwood's 355-game record for the most number of matches played for the club.
In the final round of the home and away season, the team climbed to third position on the ladder with a dominant 93-point win over West Coast, headlined by Jeremy Cameron's career high of nine goals for the match.
At the AFL Awards in late August, Oliver Dempsey won the Ron Evans Medal as the AFL Rising Star to become the second Geelong player to win that award after Joel Selwood in 2007. Jeremy Cameron was selected in the 2024 All-Australian team at centre-half forward after kicking 58 goals for the season to finish second in the Coleman Medal standings.
Pre-season Geelong started the season with a match simulation game against at Ikon Park on 22 February, emerging as 17-point winners 10.13 (74) to 8.8 (56) in sweltering conditions. Cameron Guthrie suffered a quad injury in the opening minutes of the match, not returning to the field for the rest of the day.
Geelong played an official practice match as part of the AFL's Community Series against at GMHBA Stadium on 1 March 2024, scoring five goals in the last quarter to come from behind to win 11.17 (83) to 10.11 (71).
Coaching staff Chris Scott continued as the club's men's senior coach for a fourteenth season, having signed a two-year contract extension until the end of the 2024 season.
Assistant coach Shaun Grigg departed the club following the 2023 season, having joined the . Development coach Josh Jenkins also departed the club, as well as fellow development coach Daisy Pearce who was appointed head coach of the West Coast Eagles (AFL Women's). Matthew Egan also left the club after being hired by the , with Nigel Lappin replacing him as the head of player development.
Former Geelong player and life member James Rahilly joined the coaching staff as an assistant coach, returning to the club after three seasons with , and joining Rahilly in returning to Geelong, former Geelong captain and 2007 premiership ruckman Steven King joined the coaching staff as an assistant coach. King had been the interim head coach at the during the 2023 season.
+ 2024 Geelong coaching staff Role Name Senior coach Chris Scott Assistant coach James Kelly Assistant coach Steven King Assistant coach James Rahilly Head of player development Nigel Lappin Ruck coach Brad Ottens Development coach Aaron Black Development coach Shaun Higgins
Playing list Changes
+ Deletions from playing list Player Reason Traded to Retired Retired Delisted Delisted Delisted Delisted Delisted
+ Additions to playing list Player Acquired 11, 2023 national draft 32, 2023 national draft 36, 2023 national draft 58, 2023 national draft 61, 2023 national draft 63, 2023 national draft 7, 2023 rookie draft Category B rookie
Statistics Updated to end of season +Key^Denotes player who was on the club's standard rookie list, and therefore eligible for senior selection.#Denotes Category B rookie where player needed to be elevated to club's senior list during this season to be eligible for senior selection.
+Playing list and statisticsPlayerGamesGoalsBehindsKicksHandballsDisposalsTacklesMarksHitoutsMilestone(s) 30 22 0 3 176 201 377 142 34 0 24 5 0 0 31 19 50 7 20 0 46 24 5 7 162 179 341 86 77 230 250th match (round 4) 12 22 12 8 254 150 404 104 69 0 4 17 5 4 167 130 297 72 39 0 5 24 64 41 278 114 392 40 144 1 600th AFL goal (round 7)250th match (round 22) 13 15 2 1 105 78 183 43 26 0 ^ 40 2 0 1 6 4 10 8 3 0 45 25 25 12 159 159 318 58 69 0 100th match (qualifying final) 6 5 1 0 24 44 68 18 12 122 35 16 8 6 195 127 322 63 54 1 16 19 3 0 123 154 277 26 64 103 50th match (round 7) 28 25 22 13 231 205 436 61 109 0 22 22 3 7 278 133 411 42 124 0 11 19 # 37 29 4 0 0 38 29 67 11 13 0 39 25 4 2 335 121 456 59 150 0 100th match (round 24)^ 41 26 12 15 8 67 42 109 19 35 53 350th match (round 3) 38 25 0 0 214 73 287 34 143 0 36 23 37 18 132 72 204 31 70 0 50th match (round 3) 9 25 13 6 374 231 605 74 140 0 17 11 1 1 137 50 187 19 65 0 AFL debut (round 16)^ 43 10 4 2 1 18 9 27 10 13 0 8 24 1 1 203 124 327 47 123 0 7 12 15 12 142 53 195 54 24 0 AFL debut (round 1) 32 25 21 12 315 190 505 106 101 0 ^ 34 12 0 1 58 58 116 32 23 0 ^ 31 33 15 23 11 88 48 136 31 61 54 42 13 2 3 87 68 155 40 50 0 14 1 0 1 3 8 11 1 3 0 AFL debut (round 5) 3 9 1 2 77 76 153 57 13 0 23 12 9 1 65 23 88 14 34 3 200th match (round 17) 1 14 4 2 83 53 136 33 34 374 200th match (round 5) 18 25 46 18 222 113 335 58 68 0 100th AFL goal (round 4) 15 44 23 1 3 358 137 495 68 140 0 150th match (round 2) 2 17 8 4 188 88 276 23 53 0 100th AFL goal (round 15) 20 21
Results +KeyH Home gameA Away gameN Neutral venue gameQF Qualifying finalPF Preliminary final + Table of 2024 AFL season results Round Date Result Score Opponent Score Ground Attendance OR Bye 1 10 16 76 9 14 68 GMHBA Stadium H 39,352 2 14 12 96 11 11 77 Adelaide Oval A 44,758 3 17 4 106 10 10 70 Melbourne Cricket Ground A 67,020 4 14 11 95 14 7 91 Adelaide Oval N 45,970 5 21 13 139 10 4 64 GMHBA Stadium H 31,194 6 9 9 63 4 13 37 The Gabba A 30,429 7 18 10 118 15 15 105 Melbourne Cricket Ground H 87,775 8 9 12 66 10 14 74 Melbourne Cricket Ground A 51,795 9 14 11 95 15 11 101 GMHBA Stadium H 29,942 10 15 10 100 26 8 164 TIO Stadium A 12,112 11 11 8 74 11 12 78 GMHBA Stadium H 30,821 12 15 9 99 10 9 69 GMHBA Stadium H 31,054 13 12 10 82 16 16 112 Sydney Cricket Ground A 44,714 14 Bye 15 11 9 75 21 12 138 Melbourne Cricket Ground A 75,218 16 16 9 105 9 6 60 Melbourne Cricket Ground H 54,698 17 16 14 110 9 5 59 GMHBA Stadium H 33,188 18 13 13 91 10 11 71 Melbourne Cricket Ground A 73,435 19 7 6 48 13 17 95 GMHBA Stadium H 27,967 20 16 10 106 10 6 66 Blundstone Arena A 10,045 21 13 12 90 13 7 85 GMHBA Stadium H 28,939 22 10 13 73 9 8 62 Optus Stadium A 50,600 23 14 5 89 16 11 107 Marvel Stadium A 31,945 24 26 12 168 11 9 75 GMHBA Stadium H 32,545 QF 20 18 138 7 12 54 Adelaide Oval A 50,342—PF 12 13 85 14 11 95 Melbourne Cricket Ground N 93,066
Ladder
Awards League awards Tom Wills Award: Oliver Dempsey (Round 16 vs ) All-Australian: Jeremy Cameron (Forward) Rising Star: Winner: Oliver Dempsey (52 votes – nominated in Round 1) Lawson Humphries (Nominated in Round 18) AFLPA 22 Under 22 team: Oliver Dempsey (Forward) Max Holmes (Defence)
Club Awards Carji Greeves Medal: Max Holmes (164 votes) Best Young Player Award: Oliver Dempsey Tom Harley Best Clubman: Tom Atkins & Tom Hawkins Carter Family Community Champion Award: Tom Hawkins
VFL team
Season summary Team stalwart Dan Capiron was appointed captain, with Brayden Ham as vice-captain. Ham would step away from VFL-level football in the first month of the season.
The club finished in fourth position on the ladder after the home-and-away season, with 12 wins and a draw from their 18 matches. The team would use 55 players across the season, with captain Capiron the only player to appear in every match.
In the first week of the finals, Geelong were defeated by minor premiers by 21 points in blustery conditions at Avalon Airport Oval. The following week the team was eliminated from the finals after losing by 29 points against the Southport Sharks. Club senior record games holder Tom Hawkins made his first appearance for the VFL team since the 2011 season, returning from injury to kick a goal in what was his final appearance at GMHBA Stadium.
Mitch Hardie was named to the VFL Team of the Year, earning a position on the half-forward flank. Hardie kicked 14 goals for the season and averaged 29 disposals per match. Ted Clohesy had been named to the initial squad in consideration for the VFL Team of the Year, but missed out on final selection. Hardie also finished fourth in voting for the VFL's J.J. Liston Trophy with 19 votes, while winning the club's VFL best and fairest award.
Results +KeyH Home gameA Away gameQF Qualifying finalSF Semi-final + Table of season resultsRoundDateResultScoreOpponentScoreGround1 23 March 7 8 50 16 7 103 GMHBA Stadium H2 30 March 11 11 77 16 15 111 GMHBA Stadium H3 14 April 12 17 89 5 6 36 Genis Steel Oval A4 20 April 9 13 67 9 10 64 Brighton Homes Arena A5 27 April 23 18 156 8 7 55 Ikon Park A6 5 May 18 5 113 6 13 49 GMHBA Stadium H7Bye8 18 May 13 10 88 10 6 66 Piranha Park A9 25 May 16 14 100 7 7 49 GMHBA Stadium H10 1 June 11 11 77 8 12 60 GMHBA Stadium H11 9 June 12 11 83 10 14 74 Sydney Cricket Ground A12Bye13 23 June 12 14 86 13 10 88 ETU Stadium A14 30 June 13 10 88 11 7 73 GMHBA Stadium H15 7 July 10 11 71 10 12 72 Fenjiu Stadium A16 13 July 15 13 103 11 8 74 Olympic Park Oval A17 20 July 8 9 57 8 9 57 GMHBA Stadium H18 27 July 10 12 72 7 9 51 Arden Street Oval A19Bye20 10 August 11 12 78 16 5 101 GMHBA Stadium H21 18 August 10 12 72 8 11 59 Trevor Barker Beach Oval AQF 31 August 5 6 36 8 9 57 Avalon Airport Oval ASF 7 September 7 16 58 13 9 87 GMHBA Stadium H
Ladder
Awards VFL Team of the Year: Mitch Hardie (forward)