Four-time Hawthorn premiership player Luke Hodge has confirmed he will retire at the end of the 2017 AFL season.
2001’s No.1 draft pick confirmed his decision to hang up the boots come the end of the season at a press conference on Monday.
He will play his 300th AFL game against the Geelong Cats this Saturday at the MCG.
The announcement brings to an end the short-lived speculation put forward last week that Hodge might consider playing on at another club in 2018.
It was always considered likely given Hawthorn’s situation that Hodge’s time there would end this year by his decision on theirs, but the possibility was floated last week that he could play on another year or more elsewhere, as others like Paul Chapman, Steve Johnson and teammate Sam Mitchell have done in recent years.
Hodge made light of the rumours at the press conference, joking that “apparently I’m off to Geelong!” when asked what he was doing next.
No doubt there’ll be a heated race for Hodge’s services as a potential assistant coach, with clubs like Richmond reportedly having sounded him out as early as last year.
It will also be interesting to see if the news kick-starts a run of retirements among the Hawks, with Josh Gibson and Shaun Burgoyne also weighing up whether or not to play on.
Hodge was taken as the first pick of the famous ‘superdraft’ in 2001, ahead of the likes of Chris Judd and Gary Ablett.
He won a Rising Star nomination in 2002 and had a genuine breakout season in 2005 when he averaged 27 disposals and recorded 15 Brownlow votes.
He played in four premierships for Hawthorn, in 2008, and as captain of the club in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
He won the Norm Smith Medal in two of those, 2008 and 2014, and has won two Hawthorn best-and-fairests (2005 and 2010), and named in the All-Australian team three times (2005, 2008 and 2010).
His popularity among neutral fans has been up and down over the course of his career, and his career has at times been marred by regretable incidents on and off the field.
That said, he’ll undoubtedly be remembered as one of the most inspirational captains in VFL/AFL history, a much-loved son of the Hawthorn football club, and perhaps the player who has had more impact on the league than any other in this millenium.
(Photo by Justine Walker/AFL Media)
Don Freo
Guest
Typing under the influence.
Birdman
Guest
not in dispute, however I'd always take a team first leader (tends to be the Hawthorn philosophy) as it normally delivers more team success (in this case 4 flags over 16 seasons).
New York Hawk
Guest
One thing that is getting a bit of airtime, but not a lot, is how skillful he was, especially as a kicker. Some of those bullets that came from his left foot were to die for. I once made a mate who supported Carlton watch a game Hodgey played against the Pies solely to highlight how good a kick he was. Bizarrely we are still mates...
New York Hawk
Guest
PD - I don't think you can call him a serial sniper. The Wingar episode was not great, no question there. But Swallow? I mean, if you look at the replay, the palm o his hand slip a of Swallow's chest am deathly into his head. I couldn'tbelieve imhe got suspended for it, to be honest. As for the Murphy "incident", you had two guys going hard for the ball and Murphy came off second best. It wasn't head high, or dangerous, it was just bloody hard and tough. Also remember that Hodge won that ball, so it isn't like he ran past the ball and was playing the man - he played the ball and won it! Even Juddy referenced it in his great article in The Age yesterday.
New York Hawk
Guest
Nice work Nineteen!
Cat
Roar Guru
I'll give you Hodge gets the tick for leadership but as an individual player Ablett is miles ahead of Luke. I don't mean to be disrespectful but Ablett is one of the best to ever play the game while Hodge might not even be in the top five Hawthorn players of all time. Again that's not meant to be a slight on Hodge just an objective view.
Birdman
Guest
as an individual the case for Judd looks compelling (as is Ablett's ) but as a leader they're put in the shade by Hodge. Luke's leadership attributes took his club to immortality something that Judd or Ablett can't claim.
Mark
Guest
And stay out.
Mark
Guest
Judd was a decent margin ahead of Hodge. And if we're bringing up things other than footy, how's the drink-driver that rams heads into posts going?
GJ
Guest
2 x Brownlow', a Norm Smith to name a few. Relentlessly tagged every week, dragging an opposition player with him to every contest and carrying half his team on his shoulders most weeks .. Not really surprising he started to retaliate on occasion
Link
Guest
Wingard and Murphy are soft..
Link
Guest
I hope he flattens at least 5...
Link
Guest
Judd ?? The eye gouger and chicken winger..haha..One premiership..Pffffft
Paul D
Roar Guru
Oh please, he'd have been legal in California. Was barely over
anon
Roar Pro
He put peoples lives at risk driving intoxicated. Showed incredibly poor judgement.
anon
Roar Pro
Clarko had no choice to go for a 4th premiership in 2016. They didn't win in 2016 not because of list management but due to the soft, uncontested, bizarre style of play Clarko employed last year. Hawks had one of the worst contested balls differentials of all time (differential reserved for cellar dwellers), Clarko had earlier in the year arrogantly scoffed at a journo saying he "didn't give a toss about contested ball". All blew up in Clarko's face. But he made good strong moves in the off-season. Different to Freo who were the oldest team in the league in the wake of the 2015 preliminary final loss, had been a mediocre team in the second half of that season. It was all over for them then and there.
Steve J
Roar Guru
Clarko dealt the hand he's got, he's been in charge for a decade or more now
Aransan
Guest
It must be pretty lonely down there!
Aransan
Guest
Cat, Hodge strikes me as having a rather strong personality on the dominant side. If he wants to coach he should start off as an assistant somewhere else, but a few coaches might be a bit nervous having him as an assistant. I hope something works out for him but there is a lot more to coaching than footy smarts -- and I have no doubt he has a very good footy brain.
DB
Guest
1. Ablett 2. Judd pretty solid reasons