Greg Williams

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

He was also linked to further controversy during the 1990s.

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.

The third of eight children, Williams spent his early life in Melbourne, before moving to Bendigo at the age of 10.

During 1991, Williams decided that he wanted to return to Melbourne the following season, and and emerged as the two potential candidates.

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.

He was also All-Australian in both 1993 and 1994 – the former as vice-captain, and the latter as captain.

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 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 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.