Joe Slater is one of 182 Geelong players who have served in times of conflict, from the Boer War to Vietnam.
Of them, 110 served overseas, 13 were killed in action and six received bravery awards.
Joe Slater had an outstanding football career, notching 108 games with the Cats between 1906 and 1914.
He was a powerfully built athlete, with a rare turn of speed, who was named on the half-back flank in Geelong’s Team of the Century.
He was known for his gallantry on the football field, but it was on the battle field where he truly led.
He survived the carnage of Gallipoli, then rose to the rank of Captain before being killed at the aged of 28 in action in France in 1917.
He gave the appointed signal,
Valiant he led
Into the thick of the fighting,
Where his gallant life was shed
He led men oft in the football field,
And he led in the sterner test
So sounded the proud, aching words in memory in Melbourne’s Argus newspaper from the hearts of Joe Slater’s battalion mates.
These men of the AIF’s 22nd knew him from a higher level, when they stood beside him on Gallipoli’s climbs and again on the Western Front.
Today on ANZAC Day, the Geelong Football Club would like to pay tribute to all the men and women who have served our country and sacrificed their lives.
Lest we forget.