As Western Bulldogs great Scott West continued to absorb the shock of learning he would not play with the AFL club again, his coach and captain forecast a bright future in the coaching ranks.
While the 33-year-old, 324-game veteran did not rule out playing elsewhere, that seems unlikely, given his age and the fact he has been out with a knee injury since April.
The record seven-time best and fairest angrily cut short a meeting with coach Rodney Eade on Tuesday in which he was informed his time with the Bulldogs was over.
He had entered the meeting confident he could still be a valuable team member.
But, after shedding some tears on Tuesday night and being consoled by family and teammates, he was coming to terms with the disappointment.
“You just go through those emotions because you just love playing and this is what I’ve done since I was six years old,” West told reporters, as past and present players, club officials and family members looked on.
“The realisation that something that’s been so big in my life and such a big part of my life is over, it probably still really hasn’t sunk in.
“But believe it or not, I was pretty happy to realise that the sun did come up this morning and life goes on.”
Eade, who ranked West alongside any Bulldog, including club legend Ted Whitten and games record-holder Chris Grant, said it was the hardest message he had ever had to deliver.
But he said with several youngsters set to push their way in to an already deep midfield, it was the right decision.
Eade predicted a coaching future for West, noting he had been a virtual assistant coach with the `Dogs through his influence on younger players.
“He’s got as good a football brain as I’ve met and a great ability to be able to impart that knowledge to people as well,” Eade said.
“I’ve got no doubt there’s a coaching career waiting for him.”
Captain Brad Johnson echoed those thoughts, saying every current Bulldog had “a bit of Scott West in them”.
“His knowledge of the game is just enormous. It is massive,” Johnson said.
“It’s certainly not a job interview today, but I think that’s definitely his calling in the future.”
West said the prospect held some appeal.
“It does. I think it’s something I’ll look at, but I obviously haven’t had a lot of time to reflect.”
Meanwhile, fellow Bulldogs veteran Jason Akermanis said next year would be the last of his career and coaching staff had indicated he would face pressure to stay in the senior side.
He said West’s cutting rammed that message home.
“I got the distinct feeling that there’s a lot of pressure coming on (for) young guys to get games,” Akermanis told Melbourne’s SEN radio.
“And if I sort of have a little bit of a bad patch, they said: `Look, you may have to go and play in the twos and are you going to be able to handle that?’ That’s the nature of football as you get older.
“After that conversation, I will tell you categorically right now, next year’s the last.
“Hopefully I’m playing good footy and hopefully I play all the way to the end.”
Pippinu
Roar Guru
It's sad for Westy, he carried this team through some lean years from 2001 to 2007, during times when he was the only ball winner in the team and he was flanked by lots of skinny kids, but it has to be remembered that even club legends such as EJ and Hawkins had to be encouraged to retire while still capable of playing at a reasonable standard. Westy started in 1993 as an 18 year old, and Johnno started the following year as an 18 year old - one thinks that he (Johnno) would have to be viewing 2009 as his final year.