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No sporting career lasts forever. It’s a sad fact that has been drilled home of late with the retirement of rugby league legend Darren Lockyer, and the perpetual talk of when Ricky Ponting should declare.
After captivating us, enthralling us, and entertaining us for many years on end, it’s a depressing day when some of our favourite athletes announce their retirement. It suddenly dawns on us that we’ll never watch them play live again, instead relying on memories, YouTube or an old VHS tape.
Everyone’s list will no doubt be different – that’s the beauty of sport – but here is my list of 10 retired Australian athletes that I miss watching.
Darren Lehmann
A drinking, smoking, generously proportioned cricketer, it’s ironic that Lehmann would ever make any list with the word ‘athlete’ in it. Yet whilst ‘Boof’ appeared to be from a different era of professionalism, once you put a bat in his hand, no one could doubt his effectiveness or ability.
Lehmann used the crease to perfection, and few batsmen have worked over a fielding team better. If there was a gap, Lehmann would find it.
I’ll always remember Boof as the player that perfected the hardest shot in cricket – the square drive. Many a time I attempted to angle the bat whilst driving, trying to hit the ball through the point area. Every time I failed, I had new found respect for Lehmann, who practically made the difficult shot his bread-and-butter.
When Lehmann was batting, I considered it a mandatory to watch.
Andrew Gaze
He wasn’t quick. He couldn’t jump. He lacked top level athleticism. Whilst he was tall by normal standards, at 6’7”, he wasn’t a giant in basketball terms. And yet Andrew Gaze is widely regarded as the greatest basketball player that Australia has ever produced (though Andrew Bogut will eventually take that mantle, if he hasn’t already).
There were many things to like about Andrew Gaze, but none more so than the man himself. Having had the pleasure of meeting him a few times, I can attest to the fact he is one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. His personality is matched only by his talent.
I miss Gaze’s ability to drop 40 points with absolute ease. I miss the textbook stroke on his three pointers. I miss his backdoor cuts that made defenders look silly. I miss his alley-oop passes to Lanard Copeland. I miss his boyish enthusiasm for the game. Quite simply, I miss watching Andrew Gaze play basketball.
Andrew Johns
I believe Andrew Johns is the greatest rugby league player of all-time. Even those that don’t consider him the greatest would have to rank him somewhere near the top. His influence upon a game of rugby league was truly remarkable.
He was the complete footballer, with every weapon in the book: low centre of gravity, great footwork, beautiful hands, outstanding defender, magnificent goal kicker, a high rugby league IQ with an incredibly astute tactical brain, a touch of flair, calm under pressure, and the list goes on.
Whilst he was far from perfect off the field, he was close to perfect on it.
Mark Viduka
‘Dukes’ was a polarising figure in Australian Football, but he was always my favourite Socceroo.
Whilst no one can doubt the impact Harry Kewell had on the sport, for me it was Viduka who was the star of our national football team.
He wasn’t as prolific a goal scorer at international level as many fans wanted him to be, but I always marvelled at the way he controlled a game with his height and patience with the ball, and it was clear his teammates enjoyed playing with him as much I enjoyed watching him play.
David Campese
There will never be another Campo. Ever. In recent times, Carlos Spencer and Quade Cooper have had the Campese comparison levelled at them, but such talk is actually an insult to Campese.
For starters, both of those players are number 10’s, and therefore handle the ball a lot more than a winger. And whilst both play with natural flair, neither was in Campese’s class when it came to unpredictable (and correct) decisions. Goose steps, chip and chases, no look passes.
Campese was a natural entertainer who packed stadiums all by himself.
Wayne Carey
The ultimate test of an athlete’s greatness comes when even a novice fan can identify them as the best player on the park. Two times during Wayne Carey’s career, I had friends who had never seen an AFL game before, easily communicate to me who the best player on the field was. “The big unit, wearing number 18.”
Tall, strong, athletic and with what can only be called ‘presence’, Wayne Carey stood out, even with 35 other players on the field, on a ground the size of the MCG.
In full flight, ‘King Carey’ was awesome to watch.
Shane Warne
An obvious selection, but no list of athletes I miss watching would be complete without the Sheik of Tweak.
Whenever Warne came into the attack, I simply couldn’t take my eyes of proceedings. No bowler before, or since, has had that effect on my cricket viewing. The way Warne would mentally and physically dominate batsmen was mesmerising.
Whatever you think of Warne the man, there can be no doubt that Warne the cricketer was the most captivating cricketer of his era.
Shane Heal
‘The Hammer’ was always hard to ignore. Anytime you watched him play, you were guaranteed to witness him drill three pointers from 30 feet, trash talk with opponents, argue with referee’s, or get into some type of altercation. In fact, normally all of that and more.
A warm-up game against the United States before the 1996 Olympics perfectly summed up Shane Heal’s whole career. He hit 8 three pointers, had a fight with Charles Barkley, got in Karl Malone’s face, and was generally the story of the game, despite the fact the US squad contained 12 NBA superstars.
He was a big character of the game, with even bigger range of his three point shot. The NBL misses both his talent and his personality.
Brad Fittler
Fittler burst onto the rugby league scene as a teenager for the Penrith Panthers. Even at that young age, his talent was evident to all, especially his devastating left foot step.
When he moved to the Roosters during the Super League war, Fittler took his game to another whole level, becoming an outstanding leader of men, as evidenced by his promotion to Australian captain.
Fittler was a joy to watch, because like Johns, he had so many skills at his disposal. Short passes, cut-out balls, booming kicks, deft kicks, left foot step, right hand fend. Fittler gave defensive lines absolute fits, as no one could predict what he was going to do with the ball in hand. And even if you did know what was coming, stopping it was another thing altogether.
Adam Gilchrist
When Gilly was batting, he’s what was commonly referred to as an ‘Emptier’. Upon his arrival at the crease, the bars at the ground emptied, as everyone raced back to their seats to watch him hopefully dismantle a bowling attack.
And if you weren’t at the game, Gilly was must-watch TV.
Former Victorian Bushrangers all-rounder, Jon Moss, tells a great yarn about the time he became public enemy number one in Perth. In a domestic one day game between Victoria and Western Australia, Moss won the toss and put WA into bat. Gilchrist, making a rare appearance for his state, trotted out to open the batting in front of 30,000 keen and excited fans. When Moss had Gilchrist out for a duck in the first over, the crowd left, but not before booing Moss on their way out.
That’s the effect Gilchrist had on fans.
Who do you miss watching?
You can follow Ryan on Twitter @RyanOak