We are the champions
... well, when it comes to dress-ups
CAPTAIN America, Freddie Mercury and a fireman all walk into a Newtown bar.
This isn’t the start of a joke — it’s the start of the Geelong Cats’ annual Wacky Wednesday celebrations.
Cats players, who are famous for their creative and often topical Wacky Wednesday costumes, did not disappoint their fans.
Ruckman Rhys Stanley arrived at Hotel Cremorne dressed as Captain America and Zac Smith as a toilet.
Smith told the Addy his costume was a playful nudge towards a few stinky Cat culprits who sometimes left the club toilets in a “mess”.
“It’s more of a reminder to the boys to clean up after themselves,” he said.
“There’s been a few names thrown around of who leaves a mess — Tom Hawkins and Tom Atkins — they are only suspects at this stage,” Smith alleged.
Crowd favourite Patrick Dangerfield used his costume to take a jab at long-time rival, former Port Adelaide player Kane Cornes.
Danger rolled up in a siren-sounding police car — a Port Adelaide guernsey under a fireman’s uniform.
Cornes retired from AFL to become a firefighter, only to change his mind.
“If anyone is caught smiling, laughing or with a jovial set-up they will be arrested,” Dangerfield joked.
Cornes got the last laugh, tweeting a photo of Dangerfield with the comment, “He forgot the premiership medal …”
“I’ll give you that!” Dangerfield replied on Twitter.
Hawkins dressed as teammate Gary Rohan, with blazing red hair, a Geelong Falcons guernsey and a chicken in hand.
“They took a photo when he was drafted and it’s one of my favourite photos of Gary,” Hawkins said. “It’s one of my chickens … it is going to be taken home safely soon.”
Midfielder Luke Dahlhaus showed up as Turkish chef Salt Bae, sprinkling salt onto a slab of steak in hand.
Dahlhaus said Wacky Wednesday was a fun way to end a long season.
“Although we got knocked out of the prelim and it’s been a rough couple of days — we had such a good year and finished on top,” he said.
“A lot of people don’t realise we are a new team, so it’s going to take a bit of time to blend together.
“We are really happy with the year — although we would have loved to be in the Grand Final.”
Gary Ablett turned heads by walking in to the party with his baby son Levi strapped to his chest, a dead ringer for Alan from the hit movie The Hangover.
Skipper Joel Selwood came as Freddie Mercury from Queen, Zach Tuohy and Lachie Henderson as elephants and Gary Rohan staying true to his nickname as ‘Chuckie’ from the Rugrats.
Defender Mark Blicavs, who was fined $1000, for staging in Round 19 against Sydney, poked fun at himself on Instagram while clutching a trophy.
“And the Academy Award for best onscreen dive goes to …” Blicavs wrote.
Cats skipper Joel Selwood said the celebrations were an opportunity for the team to have some fun post-season.
“Brit my fiancee was the one who put my costume together,” he said.
“We will spend some time together today and get around each other and then we will worry about (the season we had) when we need to.”