There’s two teams preparing to play in this Saturday’s AFL Grand Final, which means there’s 16 other teams that are currently enjoying the start of their annual leave.
And that annual leave begins with the long-held footballing tradition of the “Mad Monday,” wherein players from the team gather at a local watering hole in the days following their last game for the year, lock the doors behind them, and proceed to suck down as much of the frothy beast as they can.
Whilst some of these are understandable shitshows, the Geelong Football Club‘s celebrations have become absolutely legendary for the sheer amount of effort their players put into costumes.
The Cats held their Mad Monday celebrations yesterday, call it “Wacky Wednesday,” at the Lord of the Isles Tavern in Geelong. And lord, did they ever go all-out this year.
Joel Selwood took prop-getting to a whole new level, trucking in a full-size model horse to stand in for 2015 Melbourne Cup winner Prince of Penzance, as he donned jockey Michelle Payne‘s customary silks for the wild ride through the day.
Tom Lonergan and Corey Enright rocked picture-perfect renditions of Johnny Depp and Freddie Mercury for the occasion, with Lonergan even dragging along wee Pistol & Boo, much to the probable chagrin of Barnaby Joyce.
Though Josh Caddy and Shane Kersten were a little off with their Admiral General Aladeen/Ali G combo, all the points in the go to Steven Motlop for his OUTRAGEOUSLY FUCKING INCREDIBLE Eazy-E getup. Holy goddamn hell, it’s picture perfect.
There’s detail, and then there’s the lengths that Rhys Stanley and Zac Smith went to for these incredibly in-depth Harley Quinn and Joker ‘Suicide Squad‘ getups, complete with font-accurate “HAHAHAHAHA” tattoos.
From the “references deeper than the Marianas Trench” pile, we have Harry Taylor as Wizard Whitebeard from ‘Where’s Wally,’ and Lachie Henderson as a goddamned Mondo Shark Deterrent Surf Leash.
But the big winner, by a clear margin, is Jimmy Bartel, who took the gargantuan beard he’s been growing all year (an effort to raise awareness for domestic violence support), and perfectly slotted it into the caddy from ‘Happy Gilmore.’
Un-bloody-real. If he washed his undies in a ball cleaner at some point, you can go ahead and give him all the trophies in the world.
All that said though, we’re still not real sure about Patrick Dangerfield, Scott Selwood, Matthew Hayball, Wylie Buzza, and Ryan Gardiner‘s ‘Bachelor‘ recreation. Mostly because it’s dragging up painful memories about this season’s finale.
Even in costume form, we’re still shitty that Paddy chose Alex.
IT SHOULD’VE BEEN NIKKI, PADDY/RICHIE.
Photos: Scott Barbour, AFL Media/Getty.
