A former VFL player has been sentenced over a drunken crash that killed his partner and left a young woman with permanent injuries.

Raymond Card, 68, received a nine-year sentence, with a four-year non-parole period, in Geelong Magistrates’ Court today for the crash in November 2024 that took the life of his partner, Mandy McDonald.

The court was informed that the ex-Geelong footballer had a blood alcohol level four times above the legal limit when he drove on the wrong side of the Geelong Ring Road in Lara, resulting in a head-on collision with a BMW on November 16, 2024.

In sentencing, Judge Gerard Mullaly took into account Card’s letter of apology to the young woman.

“The time I spend in jail will not compare to your life now, and the loss of the love of my life,” Card wrote.

“I wish it had been me instead.”

Body-worn camera footage from the scene showed Card admitting to drinking before he got behind the wheel.

“It’s my fault, I’m pissed. I thought I was alright,” he said.

Since the crash Card has been diagnosed with a rare terminal heart condition and has been given five years to live.

He played for the Geelong Cats between 1977 and 1987.