Many players in elite sport know when it’s time to give it away. Legendary Australian Test cricket captain Ian Chappell told his brother, Greg, when he decided to retire that “you will know”.
We are not quite at the halfway mark of the AFL season yet, so it’s somewhat premature to be writing players off who are in the twilight of their careers.
But you don’t need to be a Rhodes scholar to recognise that time is ticking for some of them.
Carlton veteran Heath Scotland has already announced his retirement after a fine career of 268 games with the Blues and Collingwood due to a season-ending injury.
Others that could be in their final seasons include Western Bulldogs veterans Daniel Giansiracusa and Robert Murphy. It hasn’t been announced yet, but Gia will certainly pull the pin once 2014 comes to an end. He has had limited game time so far, playing as a sub in most matches and actually fulfils an on-field coaching role – which is where he will certainly end up permanently next year.
Murphy plays like a magician or a ballet dancer. It’s exquisite to watch him at work, but so far this season he doesn’t seem to have been as effective as past years, and maybe Father Time is catching up. He deserves to make that decision considering what a fine servant he has been for the Dogs for 15 seasons.
Matthew Boyd is in the same boat, but all three of them can’t go at once as the Dogs have many young players and very few in the middle bracket of age or experience.
Coach Brendan McCartney didn’t offer star midfielder Daniel Cross another contract at the end of last season, which was a brave call. It was probably the right one, even though Cross has been excellent so far for Melbourne.
The Bulldogs have numerous young midfielders that needed game time, so someone out of contract of that ilk had to make way. It would be even braver if he did that at the end of 2014 to Boyd or Murphy.
Adam Goodes is an all-time great, so the Swan will be allowed to retire when he wants. That could be this season, as he starts to battle with injuries that he managed to avoid for the first 13 years of his stellar career. It will be the end for his dual-premiership teammate Ryan O’Keefe though, who hasn’t played since Round 4.
O’Keefe is an example of how quickly age and weariness can get to you. He was best on ground in the 2012 premiership, then played every game in 2013 to finish top five in the best and fairest.
Matthew Pavlich featured in this column a fortnight ago, and probably has one year left in him, especially if the Dockers don’t win the flag this season. If they do, it would be a fitting end and he deserves to go out on top.
Durable West Coast ruckman Dean Cox also deserves to go out on top. But Cox won’t get to 300 games this season unless the impossibly unlikely occurs – that the Eagles play all finals, draw the grand final and get to a replay. Even finals are very doubtful for West Coast at the moment.
That means Cox will have to go on to get to the 300 game milestone, and having currently played more than 100 in a row, he should be able to continue in 2015.
The two oldest players in the competition are Essendon’s Dustin Fletcher and North Melbourne inspiration Brent Harvey. They are very good chances at this stage of playing next season. Fletcher will turn 40 next season and play his 400th game, unless the Dons play one final and he doesn’t miss another match this year, which his playing history tells us won’t happen.
Harvey is still playing well at the age of 36 but, as outlined with Ryan O’Keefe earlier in the article, you can lose it quickly. Harvey incredibly still has his most important commodity – pace. Having played 371 games he can’t be ruled out of passing Michael Tuck’s longstanding games record of 426.
You would think St Kilda star Lenny Hayes is in the last year of a glittering career, and should make a formal announcement in the last month of the season.
His skipper, Nick Reiwoldt, has been superb so far this season, but his knee is still playing up, so he could be a fifty-fifty proposition to go out on his own terms. The body is also starting to let down Richmond stalwart Chris Newman on a consistent basis.
There are others that may also be at the end, and they may make their own decision or be told as the season comes to a close. It’s sad and tough, but it happens to everyone and as they will all be recognised and remembered fondly.
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