West Adelaide duo Chris Schmidt and Daniel Caire call it a day
PREMIERSHIP captain and Jack Oatey Medallist Chris Schmidt will play his last game for West Adelaide this weekend.
There will be a few relieved SANFL midfielders around town following West Adelaide captain Chris Schmidt’s decision to hang up his Bloods jumper after the clash against Glenelg in Richmond on Saturday.
Schmidt is a class act. But he also has that white-line fever and is unrelenting in his attack on the body and ball with his fiercely competitive instincts.
There have been plenty of bruises inflicted on opponents in his 131 league appearance for the Bloods. However, his courage and selfless approach has come at a cost, with four surgeries in the past six months and a medical chart which includes two shoulder reconstructions, broken bones, seven knee operations and hip repairs.
“At some point the body starts catching up with you and gets sorer and sorer,” Schmidt said. “But it is a combination of things, and no one reason for the timing being right to retire from Westies.
“Career-wise, work is taking over and I’m finding it hard to train five nights a week. The club is heading in the right direction, but the past couple of years have been tough on the field, and that has been a factor.
“But I can’t complain. Coming from a small country town (Robertstown), I’ve been lucky with the opportunities I’ve been given and it has been a great journey.”
Schmidt was drafted by Brisbane from the Bloods in 2006 and played two AFL games for the Lions the following year.
Delisted after the 2008 season, he was rookie-drafted by Adelaide the next year and made 18 appearances in his two seasons with the club.
He earned the Jack Oatey Medal for his best-on-ground performance in the 2015 grand final triumph over Woodville-West Torrens.
Premiership defender Daniel Caire will also retire after the contest against the Tigers, his 218th league game.
“It is quite fitting we are going out at the same time,” Schmidt said. “I played my first league game with him and he gave me my first goal in that game.
“We came up through the juniors together. We will be having a red hot crack on Saturday to get that win.”