Glenelg captain Max Proud retires after second SANFL premiership

Courageous Glenelg skipper Max Proud has called time on his career after leading the Tigers to their sixth SANFL premiership, beating Sturt in the grand final.

A flag and out.

Max Proud could not have dreamt of a better finish to his stellar career than hoisting the SANFL’s Thomas Seymour Hill premiership trophy aloft at Adelaide Oval on Sunday.

Now he’s done.

The dual Glenelg premiership defender and now premiership captain announced his retirement after leading the Tigers to their sixth premiership when they beat Sturt in a grand final for the first time by 24 points.

“It’s a pretty special way to go out, I don’t think I could have scripted it any better,’’ Proud said as the Glenelg players continued their flag party with Mad Monday dress-up celebrations.

“It’s been an amazing journey, having gone through a lot of tough times and then some success and then to finish with a premiership, as a premiership captain, I couldn’t have wished for it to end in a better way.’’

Retiring Glenelg captain Max Proud with the SANFL premiership cup at the club’s Mad Monday celebrations. Picture: Matt Loxton

Proud, 31, said he had been thinking about retirement for “a couple of years’’ and told his teammates last Friday night – two days before the grand final – that he would pull the pin if his team could “get the job done’’ against the Double Blues.

“I just thought that I would be really content with that,’’ he said.

“We didn’t need any extra motivation but it was quite nice to be able to tell the boys so they all knew, it made it really special out there. I had goosebumps at the end.’’

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Proud, who played 170 games in an injury-riddled career after debuting in 2012, said if Glenelg had lost the grand final he might have had second thoughts about retirement.

“Because there might have been a bit of unfinished business there,’’ he said.

“But for it to pan out the way it has, I'm very content with how my career has finished.’’

Proud, who also played in the Tigers’ 2019 premiership side, had contemplated retirement six years ago, at just 25, after a shocking head injury sustained against Norwood which saw him have four metal plates and a bunch of screws inserted into the right side of his face.

Max Proud (left) and Glenelg coach Darren Reeves hold the Thomas Seymour Hill premiership trophy aloft after Sunday’s grand final win against Sturt at Adelaide Oval. Picture: David Mariuz/SANFL

The serious injury had come after a succession of other fitness setbacks.

“To go from where I was six years ago to now is amazing,’’ said Proud, who will fly to Italy on Tuesday night to travel around Europe with partner Alice.

Coach Darren Reeves, who took Glenelg from fourth to top in his first year in charge, said the club expected to lose only a couple of players from its premiership 22.

Apart from Proud, 2019 Magarey Medallist and dual premiership midfielder Luke Partington intends to travel next year but the club is not ruling out a return to play in the second half of the season.

Key defender Toby Pink and James Bell, who have been on Sydney’s list, are attracting AFL attention.

“We feel that we have a great deal of depth coming through our reserves, so we’re excited about what that looks like,’’ Reeves said.

“We probably need to top up in a few different areas but we’ll enjoy the next few days and then get to work about trying to go back-to-back next year.’’