His brilliant career: Robbie Gray has been a giant, on and off the field
Robbie Gray has been a giant of Port Adelaide, hanging up his boots after 271 games. The Showdown will be one of the best ways he could have signed off.
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Kane Cornes remembers the first time he saw Robbie Gray with a football in hand. It was Gray’s first pre-season training run after the youngster had been taken with pick 55 in the 2006 national draft. It wasn’t at Alberton, but on the fringes of the CBD in the parklands.
“We were playing some little handball games and you could tell just how smart and skilful he was,’’ Cornes remembers.
“He wasn’t conditioned and ready, physically to stand up to AFL football, but the first time we saw him handle a football we knew how talented he was.’’
That Gray was taken at a lowly 55 in that draft looks absurd in hindsight. But it was a draft that also delivered Travis Boak (at number 5) and another bargain in Justin Westhoff at 79. Cornes, who played 300 games for Port, says Gray may have slipped down the pecking order because he didn’t have a “standout weapon’’ athletically, but made up for that in other ways that were harder to measure.
“What the recruiters probably underestimated was how competitive and tough and just what a natural footballer he was. Value-for-money wise he is easily the best draft pick Port Adelaide has ever had.’’
Tonight sees the end of Gray’s glorious football career. The game against the Crows will be the 271st of a stint that has seen him win the Power’s best and fairest three times, selected as an All Australian four times and being judged by AFL coaches in 2014 as the best player in the competition. Cornes says that 2014 season was the best “individual season’’ he has seen from a Port Adelaide player.
There have also been a record five Showdown medals for being best on ground in Port-Adelaide games and a chance for a sixth tonight.
Port Adelaide captain Tom Jonas believes outside of playing in a grand final, a game against the hated enemy at Adelaide Oval was the best way for Gray to leave the game.
Jonas, who joined Port Adelaide via the rookie draft in 2011, says he’s enjoyed watching Gray’s career flourish from the inner sanctum.
“Personally, I’ve had a front-row seat to Robbie Gray for 12 years,” he says.
“He tormented me on the training track and then I was able to just sit back and marvel at his skill on game day and watched him tear opposition to pieces with his craftiness and his skill and his game sense.
“I mean, obviously the two moments that stick out for me are the St Kilda game-winner and the after-the-siren winner against Carlton in Brizzy, but there are dozens of occasions where he took the game by the scruff of the neck.
“And Showdowns.”
Jonas says Tuesday’s official announcement gave the players an opportunity not just to feel sad at Gray’s retirement, but to recognise his achievements.
“(Tuesday was) a celebration of everything that Robbie’s given to the club,” Jonas says.
“Yes, it’s sad, but it’s a great opportunity to reflect on what Robbie has done throughout his career as an individual, but for Port Adelaide.”
Port Adelaide chairman David Koch agrees Saturday’s Showdown provides an ideal finish to Gray’s decorated career.
“It could not be more fitting; he and Boaky (Travis Boak) have made Showdowns their own over the years ... Showdowns are always special, but to be Robbie’s last game makes it extra special for us as a club to send him off in the right way, from an on-field role, but also as a great tribute to what he’s contributed and what he means to the club, it’s a great opportunity for our members to show what he means to the club,” Koch says.
It’s not just his football talents that are being celebrated as he bows out. Gray’s ability to overcome adversity and be resilient in the face of a career-threatening knee injury and a life-threatening fight with cancer have also inspired many.
In April 2012, Gray faced one of his significant footballing challenges when he tore his right anterior cruciate ligament in a game against Collingwood.
He had a full knee reconstruction in the days after the injury, but worse was to come: the severity of the injury had resulted in significant nerve damage to his right calf and his muscle began wasting away, at one point, he had no movement in his little toes.
The dedication he put in to his recovery – including avoiding alcohol and being meticulous in every part of his rehab – meant his nerves slowly recovered and he could begin to build up his calf muscle again.
It took him six months of intense recovery before he could start running again and then, exactly a year after he torn his ACL, he returned to the game on April 20, 2013.
Dom Cassisi was Power captain at the time of Gray’s injury, and says what could have ended his teammate’s career, actually became a turning point in it.
“What I recall after that horrific knee injury was how driven he was after that to be the best he could be,” Cassisi says
“All of a sudden went from being semi-professional to being the absolute pro in every part of his game; the way he’d prepare, what he expected of himself and I haven’t seen a shift like that in too many players.
“And then his performances just went to another level on the back of that. To be able to get to the level he got to after that injury was unbelievable.”
Cassisi says Gray’s exceptional professionalism set the bar higher for the rest of the team.
Former Port coach Matthew Primus was an assistant coach when Gray arrived and watched him develop. Primus says Gray’s ability to play at the top of his game so consistently was what marked him ahead of others.
“That’s the amazing thing about him, he’s able to play at such a high level for so long, It’s not like he played like that for one year. Robbie played at a really, really high level for a long time.’’
Primus says Gray was also unaffected by all the success he had.
“While I haven’t coached him for quite a few years, I would hazard the guess that the guy who walked into the building when he was 17 or 18 is the same guy who is walking out of the building,’’ he says. “He obviously has children and a family and all those sorts of things, but what he stands for and how he holds himself will be exactly the same and that is why he has been such a great teammate.’’
It’s a view backed by Koch.
“Everyone knows what a legend he is on the field,” Koch says.
“For me, it is Robbie Gray, the man, the dad, the human being, which has been the most important part of his time at Port Adelaide. His contribution to who we are, and the culture of what we stand for, is enormous.
“He is a quiet, unassuming bloke, but he has incredibly high values, he has a wonderful sense of community and responsibility of being in the community and for me, I think that’s been more important than Robbie Gray the player and more important than kicking goals from the sideline after the siren ... all of (his) amazing on-field moments, but for me, the lasting impact of Robbie is just him as a bloke.
“That whole support network that Robbie’s got and family around him, have been a really lovely part of being involved in the club, to be involved with them.”
As for what’s next?
Koch hints he expects Gray will continue his association with the Power beyond his playing days.
“I’m sure he will; we’ve talked about that,” he says.
Ahead of Gray’s 271st – and final – game wearing the Power’s beloved No. 9 jumper, the 34-year-old has invited a number of people who’ve been part of his footy journey to join him in the Adelaide Oval change rooms before Saturday’s night’s Showdown to watch him run out e into the fierce cauldron one last time.
Dom Cassisi will be among them, along with Gray’s wife Annabel, and their children Aston, Clementine and Willow, who mean so much to him.
“It will be a bit of a sad day, not seeing the No. 9 out there with him wearing it,” Cassisi says.
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