Cats hail Scarlett on retirement

Updated September 09, 2012 15:22:08

Andrew Mackie says retiring full-back Matthew Scarlett, a stalwart of Geelong's three premierships, will be "irreplaceable" at Kardinia Park.

None who know the publicity-shy Scarlett well would have been surprised by the low-key nature of his departure from the MCG following his 284th and last match - a shock 16-point elimination final loss to Fremantle on Saturday night.

Rather than being chaired off by his team-mates, Scarlett walked from the ground, barely pausing to acknowledge the cheers of the Geelong faithful.

For Mackie, a team-mate of Scarlett in the Cats' 2007, 2009 and 2011 flag-winning sides, nothing less than a fourth premiership would have provided a fitting farewell for one of the greatest full-backs in VFL/AFL history.

"It was really disappointing to go out like that," said Mackie.

"He's the heart and soul of the footy club.

"It's a little bit shattering.

"It's going to be hard to take and we're going to lose one of the absolute greats."

Scarlett told the Geelong coaching staff midway through the year that 2012 would be his 15th and last AFL campaign.

"You can't speak highly enough of him," said Mackie.

"He let them know exactly where he was at so the club could think about whatever they need to do.

"We're going to miss him.

"The guys who have been fortunate enough to play with him, he's taught us so much.

"It's irreplaceable.

"He's made all of us better players, we've got three premierships and a lot of it is because of him."

Mackie compared Scarlett's off-field demeanour with that of former team-mate Darren Milburn, who also called it quits last year with a minimum of fuss.

"(Scarlett) doesn't want it to be about him and that's the way he's been through his whole career," said Mackie.

"He speaks when he needs to and doesn't want to make it about him.

"He's an absolute great and a real Geelong person who we absolutely love."

AAP

Tags: sport, australian-football-league, geelong-3220

First posted September 09, 2012 11:40:50

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Honest Hayes weighing up retirement

Updated May 23, 2012 18:37:33

Much-loved St Kilda veteran Lenny Hayes says this could be his last AFL season, but he has not given up on a farewell premiership.

Hayes, 32, who has made a strong comeback from a knee reconstruction this season, will play his 250th match in Saturday's clash with Sydney at Docklands.

While the courageous midfielder said he still loved playing and ideally would continue next year, he was wary of going on too long.

"It's always a hard one. I suppose when you get to my age, I could be another serious injury away from retirement. I'm not taking anything for granted," Hayes told reporters on Wednesday.

"At the moment, I am pretty much a week-to-week proposition.

"As long as I can keep stringing games together and the body holds up, my mind's still really keen and loving it.

"Who knows? I haven't looked too far ahead. It's just get through this year. Hopefully we can have some success and then weigh it up."

A member of losing grand-final sides in 2009 and 2010, Hayes was desperately close to being a premiership hero when he won the Norm Smith Medal in the 2010 drawn grand final against Collingwood.

While the Saints (4-4) are outside the top eight, Hayes believes they can win this year's flag.

"I probably wouldn't be playing if I didn't think we were still a chance to make that final weekend," he said.

"I don't tend to reflect back too much, but I still have a lot of faith in this team and where we're going.

"I think we've added a bit this year - we've still got that core group of players ... it's a pretty open year."

He expects the clash with the Swans, fresh from their 101-point win over Melbourne, to be a good test of St Kilda's credentials.

The battle of second-string ruckmen could be pivotal.

The Swans used Mike Pyke as their main ruckman in his first game of the season against the Demons, in the continued absence of Shane Mumford.

The Saints are without preferred options Ben McEvoy and Rhys Stanley, meaning Justin Koschitzke is likely to do much of the ruckwork.

That could hamper a St Kilda attack which started the year including Koschitzke and Stanley both backing Nick Riewoldt, although Hayes said Koschitzke could fill both roles.

"Kosi might play ruck then head up forward and hopefully kick some goals for us," he said.

AAP

Tags: australian-football-league, sport, st-kilda-3182, vic, australia

First posted May 23, 2012 18:37:33

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Bradshaw announces retirement

Updated June 17, 2011 18:02:00

The fairytale ending Daniel Bradshaw sought was crushed by reality, as uncertainty and the relentless grind of repeated rehabilitation prompted the injury-plagued Sydney forward to announce his retirement on Friday.

By any standards, the 32-year-old Bradshaw enjoyed a successful career, winning the 2001 and 2003 premierships with Brisbane.

He headed their goalkicking list in three seasons, despite his career crossing over at different times with legendary Lions' forwards Jonathan Brown and Alastair Lynch and remains nine goals ahead of the former as Brisbane's all-time leading goalkicker.

Chronic knee problems marred his one-and-a-half season stint with Sydney, preventing him from playing at all in 2011, though he bagged a creditable 28 goals from his nine 2010 appearances for the Swans.

He said the knee felt good going into round one but realised there might be a problem as he experienced pain when he tried to ramp up his training.

Described as a superstar and true legend of the game by Sydney coach John Longmire, Bradshaw pulled the plug a few weeks after undergoing another bout of surgery.

"The pain is still there, so I guess at some point you've got to stop banging your head against a brick wall and just move forward and look forward to life after footy," Bradshaw told reporters on Friday.

"At the end of the day I've lost a fair bit of confidence in the knee and I don't really think I'm going to get back to the way I want to play.

"I don't really want to be out there playing at 80 per cent, it's obviously not good for myself and it's not good for the team.

"The knee is not quite right and the rehab and the uncertainty of it all, I've just pretty much had enough at the end of the day."

"It's obviously sad the way it's ended ... you'd like to have that fairytale, but it doesn't always turn out that way."

While he did not leave Brisbane on the best of terms after Lions' coach and former team-mate Michael Voss offered him as trade bait, Bradshaw's reflections on his time at the club were overwhelmingly positive.

"I'm fine with all that now, Brisbane have given me a lot in terms of what I've been able to achieve there and I've got a lot of good mates there, so there's no ill feeling there at all," Bradshaw said.

Not surprisingly, Bradshaw nominated his two premierships at Brisbane as his career highlights.

"If someone had said to me 16 years ago I was going to play over 200 games and play for as long as I did and be a part of two premierships, I probably would have laughed at them, it's obviously something I'll look back on and be really proud of," Bradshaw said.

He was optimistic Sydney had the personnel to prosper up forward, with young centre half forward Sam Reid winning this week's Rising Star nomination.

Bradshaw planned to return home to Wodonga and investigate some business opportunities in his immediate post-AFL life.

-AAP

Tags: sport, australian-football-league, sydney-2000, brisbane-4000

First posted June 17, 2011 11:00:00

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Bradshaw announces AFL retirement

Published:Friday, June 17, 2011 7:22 AESTExpires:Thursday, September 15, 2011 7:22 AEST

Sydney Swans forward Daniel Bradshaw has retired after suffering from a chronic knee injury.

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Tags: sport, australian-football-league, australia, nsw, sydney-2000

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Brogan contemplates retirement

Updated May 25, 2011 15:55:00

Evergreen ruckman Dean Brogan could soon trigger an exodus of senior players at Port Adelaide.

The 32-year-old warhorse is tipped to retire at season's end, with veteran Chad Cornes certain to follow.

Other experienced players including Kane Cornes, Daniel Motlop and Brett Ebert also face uncertain futures amid the Power's rebuilding campaign.

Brogan, who described himself as a day-to-day proposition due to a lingering Achilles injury, will consider his future within weeks.

"It is pretty obvious we need to get some ruckmen in, our younger guys haven't come along as quickly as what we hoped," he said.

"I'm not sure personally where I stand next year.

"I will probably sit down and have that conversation with the club over the next couple of weeks.

"But it's not about me or any individual at the moment, it's about where the club is heading.

"You want to play on forever but there will come a time.

"And we all know where the club is going and that they're going with youth and it's all about the future."

Port Adelaide, last on the ladder, meets Richmond in Darwin on Saturday night with Brogan urging the entire club to embrace new coach Matthew Primus' rebuilding vision.

"The club has chosen a direction and Matty has chosen a path they want to go down, and everyone needs to be fully supportive of that," he said.

"This happens to a lot of clubs, it has happened to probably every club.

"We are getting there, it's just taking a lot longer than what we thought."

Despite the lean times, Brogan said Port supporters should stay loyal.

"We have had a lot of success over the years for a club that has been in the league not very long," he said.

"We are just going through a phase now.

"If you are going to jump off now, don't jump back on when we are going well.

"We are going to go well pretty soon, I guarantee it, we're going to turn the corner very soon."

- AAP

Tags: sport, australian-football-league, australia, sa, port-adelaide-5015

First posted May 25, 2011 15:52:00

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Brogan contemplates retirement

Updated May 25, 2011 15:55:00

Evergreen ruckman Dean Brogan could soon trigger an exodus of senior players at Port Adelaide.

The 32-year-old warhorse is tipped to retire at season's end, with veteran Chad Cornes certain to follow.

Other experienced players including Kane Cornes, Daniel Motlop and Brett Ebert also face uncertain futures amid the Power's rebuilding campaign.

Brogan, who described himself as a day-to-day proposition due to a lingering Achilles injury, will consider his future within weeks.

"It is pretty obvious we need to get some ruckmen in, our younger guys haven't come along as quickly as what we hoped," he said.

"I'm not sure personally where I stand next year.

"I will probably sit down and have that conversation with the club over the next couple of weeks.

"But it's not about me or any individual at the moment, it's about where the club is heading.

"You want to play on forever but there will come a time.

"And we all know where the club is going and that they're going with youth and it's all about the future."

Port Adelaide, last on the ladder, meets Richmond in Darwin on Saturday night with Brogan urging the entire club to embrace new coach Matthew Primus' rebuilding vision.

"The club has chosen a direction and Matty has chosen a path they want to go down, and everyone needs to be fully supportive of that," he said.

"This happens to a lot of clubs, it has happened to probably every club.

"We are getting there, it's just taking a lot longer than what we thought."

Despite the lean times, Brogan said Port supporters should stay loyal.

"We have had a lot of success over the years for a club that has been in the league not very long," he said.

"We are just going through a phase now.

"If you are going to jump off now, don't jump back on when we are going well.

"We are going to go well pretty soon, I guarantee it, we're going to turn the corner very soon."

- AAP

Tags: sport, australian-football-league, australia, sa, port-adelaide-5015

First posted May 25, 2011 15:52:00

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