On Wednesday, Cats chief executive Brian Cook hailed the club's connection to regional Australia.

"85 per cent of our players are from regional areas of Australia. It's unbelievable," Cook said.

"We've had 800 players from country Victoria out of a total of 1066 players who have played senior footy for us since [we joined the VFL in] 1897.

"It shows that we rely and depend upon country talent for our survival, for our history, and for our three premierships over the last 10 years.

"It's something that we're really, really proud of.

"We are proud of all of those small towns and those small communities around Victoria and around Australia that have been incubators for legends and champions of our game."

And here are the stats, proudly put together by AFL historian and passionate Cats supporter Col Hutchinson, to back up Cook's comments!