Opinion
It’s a bit of a sad day for the Western Bulldogs faithful as tough midfielder Lin Jong calls time on a career cruelled by injury.
Jong may not have been the most skilful Bulldog, the toughest, the fastest or the best kick, but across his ten-year career with the Western Bulldogs, his determination to play despite continuous injury problems personified all that it meant to pull on the red, white and blue.
Drafted with pick No.9 in the 2012 rookie draft, Jong would get his first chance at senior action in Round 20 of that same year against Richmond.
The game itself was an absolute flogging, Richmond running out convincing 70-point winners, but Jong with his 16 disposals looked right at home amongst it.
He managed three more games in 2012 as the Dogs ended a horror year.
2013 was his down year in many ways. He broke his leg playing VFL and even when he managed to get back on the ground, struggled with form and confidence, and did not feature at all for the seniors and even found himself in the VFL reserves.
But the tough nut would fight back, playing six games in 2014 and earning himself a spot on the senior list.
2016 was probably Lin Jong’s best year, playing 16 games, averaging 17 disposals and kicking 13 goals.
After the pre-finals bye, he, along with a lot of recovering Bulldogs were ready for finals.
But unlike his team mates who celebrated with glee after putting a miserable West Coast to the sword in Perth, he sat on the sidelines, getting comforted by Dr Gary Zimmerman after he cracked his collarbone in the second quarter.
The image of him in tears as he held his shoulder is hard to forget.
He would recover in time to put in a best on ground performance in the VFL grand final for Footscray but sadly was only listed as an emergency for the drought-breaking grand final featuring the Western Bulldogs and the Sydney Swans.
He sat in the stands as one of 99,000 who witnessed the Bulldogs cap off one of the best finals runs in history with a 22-point win over the Swans in the decider.
While many say that Robert Murphy deserved to play in that game more than anyone that day, I would argue that Lin Jong wasn’t too far behind.
In 2017, Jong would play every game until Round 13 where he injured his knee in the 57-point loss to Melbourne, which ended his season.
He would only manage 14 more games across the following four seasons, including the Round 6 win against arch rivals GWS, where he barely lasted just one quarter before going down with a hamstring injury.
It would be the end of career absolutely plagued by injury but highlighted by his constant determination to get back on the field.
He retires as the first player of Taiwanese decent to play the game at the highest level, and the Western Bulldogs are better for having him on their list.
Good luck in retirement, Jongy.
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