Breakout Geelong defender Lawson Humphries reflects on return of All Stars game, being overlooked by Eagles, debut AFL season
Lawson Humphries was right under West Coast’s nose — but went undrafted. But years on, the breakout Geelong defender says he holds no grudges and concedes he wasn’t ready for the big time.
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Lawson Humphries was 11 years old the last time the Indigenous All Stars took to the field.
A decade on, he doesn’t remember much of the game itself.
But he does know that it left a lasting impression.
A proud Nyul Nyul, Oomiday, and Worrora man, he attended boarding school at Hale in Perth after moving from Wickham in the Pilbara, where he grew up.
But he brought a piece of his culture with him – specifically his brother’s 2015 Indigenous All Stars guernsey.
“I think I stole it from him,” Humphries joked. “I used to wear it everywhere.
“I wore it to every training. It was my favourite jumper. I loved the colours.
“I don’t really remember the game because I was a little bit young. But as I got older, I started to understand what it meant.
“I’m excited to hopefully have my own one with my own number on it that little kids can wear around like I used to. I love this year’s design. I’m excited to wear it.”
The 21-year-old’s journey to the AFL is too good to be true, even if he was forced to take the long road to the top level.
Recruited with the second-last pick in the 2023 draft at No. 63, Humphries made his senior debut in round 16 last year. Less than three months later, he was playing a preliminary final.
A year earlier, he won a reserves WAFL premiership with Swan Districts, largely because the club’s senior side didn’t play finals. But don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story.
“Everything happened so fast,” he said. “I was fortunate to be part of such a good team and club.
“When the season finished and I got back to Perth, it took me a few days to reflect on what happened.
“I was playing VFL for the first half of the year and suddenly I was playing in front of 90,000 odd at the MCG. Growing up, it was my dream to play AFL and it hit me right between the eyes in a 12-week period.
Lawson Humphries, man pic.twitter.com/PzAyAN8pfh
— AJ Mithen (@AJMithen) August 3, 2024
“I could talk about footy all day, every day. I love it so much. But I probably needed to take some time to reset. Now I feel really energised for another big year and hopefully, we can go one week better.”
In an alternate universe, Humphries could have already been three years into an AFL career at West Coast. The Wickham Wolves product graduated from West Coast’s Next Generation Academy in 2021 and the Eagles had exclusive access his services.
But the exciting defender has declared that he didn’t deserve to be drafted at the time.
“I probably thought because I was in the academy that I was already there,” an honest Humphries said. “In my 16 and 17th years, they were really good to me and I probably took that as a sign that I was getting drafted.
“I was naive and young. I learnt the hard way. I didn’t work hard enough in my 18th year and they weren’t really interested.
“I don’t blame them. I wouldn’t have been either. It was a good lesson for me to learn. When I got drafted by the Cats, I was ready.”
The very best of Lawson Humphries' VFL campaign thus far 📺 #WeAreGeelongpic.twitter.com/lq1Hrxh8Fc
— Geelong Cats (@GeelongCats) June 28, 2024
Now set to play back in his home state for the second time in the hoops, Humphries is preparing to abandon everything he knows about defence.
The All Stars will be without key defenders Alex Pearce and Liam Jones due to injury, leaving Humphries to try and contain a Fremantle forward line featuring the likes of Josh Treacy, Jye Amiss, Sam Switkowski and Michael Frederick.
Although if you ask the All Stars, defence isn’t set to be a priority.
“I don’t think there will be a whole lot of defence,” Humphries said. “There’s a lot of pace, even on the Fremantle side.
“Everyone will just be trying to kick goals and hopefully that leads to a high-scoring game. That’s on the bingo card. I want to try and kick a goal!
“I was talking to my defensive coach at the Cats and he said ‘You’re lucky I’m not coaching this week because I don’t think I’ll like your defensive patterns.’ I don’t think there will be too many of them.”
Originally published as Breakout Geelong defender Lawson Humphries reflects on return of All Stars game, being overlooked by Eagles, debut AFL season
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