West Adelaide forward Shannon Green retires from SANFL after injury ends 146-game career
West Adelaide premiership hero Shannon Green has recalled his fondest memories in a Bloods jumper after his SANFL career was cruelly cut short.
Local Sport
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When Shannon Green sharked the ball off a contest and jagged a goal just minutes into the 2015 grand final he thought to himself “we’re on here”.
It is one of the lasting memories the 146-game Blood will have about his SANFL career, cut cruelly short in an instant last month.
“I was going into pre-season full steam ahead, going to continue on for another season,” says Green, who runs his own electrical business.
“In the off-season I went for some runs like I normally would and played a bit of tennis but got some knee soreness, which carried on for a month or two.
“I’ve had a previous history of tendinitis, so I didn’t think much of it.
“But one day I was getting something out of the work van and my knee locked up.
“I couldn’t move for a minute or two and was in a fair bit of pain.
“I ended up having some loose bone and cartilage in there, but the worst part was they found I have stage-four arthritis in the medial joint of my knee.”
After multiple chats with doctors there was no guarantee Green’s knee would hold up to a full season of football, even with surgery.
It led to the 31-year-old making the tough decision last month to call it quits.
“It’s part of the caper and these things happen,” he says.
“I’m lucky enough to have been able to run around since under-13s at Westies.”
Green made his league debut in 2007 and spent the first chunk of his career at the Bloods as a no-nonsense defender before a change of role in 2015.
The Edwardstown product was swung forward by coach Mark Mickan to brilliant effect, booting 42 goals in the minor rounds to finish third in the Ken Farmer Medal.
He was a key cog in the Bloods’ fairytale run from ninth in 2014 to premiers the next season.
It is something Green unsurprisingly counts as the highlight of his Westies history.
“Leading up to the game there was a lot of confidence in the group, there was no feeling of doubt that we couldn’t do it,” he says.
“The first goal of the game I jagged one out of the pack and I remember thinking something like ‘we’re on here’.
“Things just seemed to click for us that day.”
Green kicked three goals on the day and was named one of the Bloods’ best.
Despite some new-found free time, Green insists moving into coaching is not something on his radar for the near future.
“I need to detach myself from footy a bit I think – although I was at the club today doing some (electrical) work,” he laughs.
patrick.keam@news.com.au
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