Fans licensed to thrill

Andrew Mathieson
CATS fanatics are rushing out to chase their own piece of immortality while the good times last.
The jump in sales of Geelong-themed footy car number plates in the past two seasons has coincided with the club surging towards another premiership.
The Cats premium plates “have risen considerably in line with the team’s success”, according to Vicroads communication spokesperson Michelle Field.
Geelong is now the highest team seller this season from 16 AFL clubs.
Vicroads sold 61 premium sets last year where the team jumped from ninth in 2006 to fourth, as the football club finally broke its 44-year premiership hoodoo.
The 2007 sales were the biggest volume of the club’s plates ever sold, but the Cats are on track to break that record again this season.
The Geelong premium plates come with the Geelong Cats slogan, using the GC abbreviation and sell for a cool $495 each.
The new upgrade range, launched in June this year featSPuring personalise messages, is proving to be “quite popular” and has the second most sales in the competition.
Vicroads plan to release a commemorative series of AFL premiership plates on Monday after the 2008 grand final.
“There is every chance that these too will be for the Geelong community,” Ms Field said.
Mad Cats supporter Darren Larkins was one of the first motorists to show his support for Geelong on his car.
He purchased the number plates CATS 7 back in 1989 in what turned out to be an amazing coincidence.
“I got it the year when Couchy won the Brownlow, actually,” he said.
“His (playing) number was the reason I got them initially, but I never thought I would have them and we’d win the premiership that year.”