Balme’s insight: The meeting that turned Stevie J around at Geelong

It was the start of the 2007 season and Neil Balme was thrown immediately into the fire in his role as Geelong footy operations boss.

Coming off a disappointing 10th-placed finish in 2006 and an extensive football department review at the end of that season, Balme joined the Cats with the club in a precarious situation.

That proved even more true on the eve of that ’07 season, when star forward Steve Johnson was arrested in his home town of Wangaratta after falling asleep in the wrong house after a big night drinking.

It was the latest in a line of off-field indiscretions for the talented forward as several of his senior Geelong teammates began to question if he should even be on the club’s list.

With the club set to come down hard on the then 23-year-old, Balme handed the power to the club’s players to sort out their wayward teammate.

It was that meeting of hard truths with the likes of Tom Harley and Cameron Ling which turned things around for Johnson, who then spent five weeks training away from the Cats with a club-imposed suspension.

Balme reflected on that moment which later proved so pivotal to the club’s 2007 flag win and ultimately helped form his management style as one of footy’s great administrators.

“That was our decision, which I agreed to and may have driven it,” Balme told This is Your Journey - thanks to Tobin Brothers.

“I saw it as a great opportunity; they had worked with him for years, and I had only just turned up.

“It wasn’t terrible, but it was another time he had done something he said he wasn’t going to do and he’s gotten into trouble.

“It was relatively minor, but it was another one. Even Tom Harley and Lingy and guys who were accepting of people, they were thinking, ‘How many times can he do this?’.

“It was my first time in this situation with him, so I had a look at it and said, ‘I tell you what, if we burn him now, I can tell you exactly where he’s going to be next week. The same place.’

“So I said, ‘I think you guys should do it instead of us; he’s got to satisfy you rather than us, work with him and give him the chance and see what happens’.

“They were quite hard on him, but he really understood and he was quite emotional and thought, ‘This is the end if I don’t look out’.

“He was such a terrific player, so that would have been terrible.

“He had a five-week suspension… the end of the story is the most beautiful part of it.

“He plays, comes back and we win our first Grand Final since 1963 and who wins the Norm Smith Medal? Steve Johnson.

“It doesn’t always work out that way, but it justifies the way you’ve got to be forgiving at times as long as they’re willing to buy in and give back.”

Balme discussed his life in footy as a player, coach and administrator and much more on this week’s episode.

Listen to Balme's full chat with Sam Edmund below.