At the age of 31, O’Keefe took a career already stacked with honours to an even higher level in 2012. 

Missing the opening game of the season due to bone bruising in his knee, he gradually built his form before hitting a consistently high level over the final two-thirds of the year. 

Proving a ball magnet in the midfield, O’Keefe was brilliant in the finals, averaging 33 touches and more than 11 tackles over the three games. 

With 28 possessions and 15 tackles in the Grand Final, he was a worthy Norm Smith medallist. 

He even rediscovered his form in front of goal after some lean years, kicking 20.7 for the season, and was unlucky not to make the All-Australian short list.

Draft history: 1999 National AFL Draft 4th round selection (Sydney) No. 56 overall.

2013 Coaches Call

2012 was a good, solid year for Ryan as well as an outstanding finals series. His stats were quite unbelievable when you look at his possessions and his tackles and his one per centers and all the little things that make him a good player. He brought his best to the finals and to be a Norm Smith medallist, you can’t really say more than that.

Pre-season has been really good and really solid again. He’s the total pro and he works really hard. He knows what he has to do to get right for round one and he’s doing that.

We hope in 2013 that it’s another consistent year. We hope his hardness and his contested ball continues, and we need him to be up and going from round one. We need him to again be a strong leader and to bring along the guys under him.