AFL news: Mick Malthouse analyses the players who should retire at end of 2022 season
A number of injury-hit players will be forced to consider retirement, and for some it may be the best choice. Mick Malthouse assesses every veteran.
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Time for my annual reality check.
I say this because it’s not a footballer’s birth certificate that determines if he’s nearing retirement. It’s performance-based, simply and honestly.
For example, Fremantle’s David Mundy is 37, but he is averaging 22 possessions, 4.7 clearances and four tackles. He’s played 17 of 19 games for the Dockers so far this season.
If he was in his 20s we wouldn’t even be analysing his output, other than expecting him to front up and perform weekly.
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The Dockers are in the top eight and will make finals, and Mundy will play a significant role in how they perform in September. So should he or shouldn’t he consider retirement?
There is one certainty in elite sport: time will get you as some stage. Your body won’t react as quickly, injuries will take longer to get over, your pace will slow and, quite simply, others will go past you.
The player is sometimes the last to realise this reality.
But if you no longer demand a position in the best 22, if you’re becoming more of a cameo than a regular or picked as a bit player to cover for injuries, then time has caught up with you.
Geelong has the oldest team in the competition by a long shot, but the list has been beautifully managed. In fact, the Cats could write a book on how to handle retirements.
Lachie Henderson “retired” last season, and Sam De Koning has filled his place with aplomb. At 204cm and more than 100kg he is simply going to blow the football world apart as a key back.
This year the Cats haven’t been able to find a place in the team for Luke Dahlhaus (30) nor Shaun Higgins (34), so retirement is the only option for these two. And yet Tom Hawkins (34) has re-signed and deservedly so. He, along with Isaac Smith (34), has maintained a level of intensity and speed required to perform at his best.
Joel Selwood (34), one of the true warriors of the game, in my eyes has slowed. He still leads brilliantly, but I would suspect, and almost hope, that if Geelong wins the premiership he will bow out at the top of his game. His body has absorbed an enormous amount of battering over a long journey that started in 2007, and it could be time to rest it.
Richmond, after a wonderful era of three premierships, finds itself in a similar position to the Cats, with Josh Caddy (29) and Kane Lambert (30) already retired, and facing a real dilemma with Trent Cotchin (32) and Shane Edwards (33).
In Cotchin’s 14 of 19 games this year he’s averaged 22 possessions, with close to five clearances. But it’s not necessarily the damage he does as a midfielder, rather the damage being done to Richmond while he’s still in the midfield. He has slowed up considerably, and is easily frustrated and undisciplined.
Edwards averages 14 possessions and has played 18 of 19 games, for just over half a goal a game.
As sad as it is, after many years of service these players probably don’t have much more to offer the Tigers.
When you have several players who are 30-plus and on the cusp of decline, you must manage your club ever so diligently. You don’t want a void of good senior citizens at your football club, but Dylan Grimes, Dion Prestia, Robbie Tarrant and Jack Riewoldt provide enough experience and leadership, to afford, with the greatest of respect, to lose Cotchin and Edwards.
I suggested two years ago that Riewoldt should consider retirement. For the Tigers and himself, I’m glad he didn’t listen. He instead lost bulk, which increased his agility. While he may have lost a couple of yards in his length of kicking, he still demands one of the best defenders each week to hold him. From 16 games this season he’s averaged 11 possessions and just over two goals a game – that is a fair effort.
Forget his birth certificate, Jack should play on.
There are several players who may be forced to retire at season’s end due to injury.
Adelaide’s Paul Seedsman couldn’t possibly come back with ongoing concussion issues. The Suns’ Sam Day has had an injury plagued career. Giant Phil Davis can’t produce anywhere near his best anymore. Ed Curnow, brother of the champion forward, has had a string of injuries. And Big Ben McEvoy, why risk coming back after a serious neck injury?
Ruckmen Callum Sinclair (Sydney) and Stefan Martin (Bulldogs) have just absorbed so much over their careers. While players like Jake Melksham (Melbourne), Michael Hibberd (Melbourne) and Matt de Boer (GWS) no longer demand an instant spot in their respective teams.
Gone already at St Kilda is Jarryn Geary. Dan Hannebery and Paddy Ryder should follow, purely because of constant injury. The two Josh Kennedys (West Coast and Sydney) are battered champions. Eagle Kennedy already doesn’t always travel because of the load on his body. That says enough.
The next group of players will demand extra consideration, or a gentle tap on the shoulder.
Port’s Travis Boak (33) still averages 27 possessions a game and should be a certainty to go on next year. But teammate Robbie Gray (34), a stalwart of Port Adelaide, doesn’t contribute enough to replicate his previous lofty standards, with an average of 14 possessions and under a goal a game. They’re not the stats to keep him at the club, unfortunately.
One of my all-time favourite players to coach, Steele Sidebottom (31), isn’t the same player he once was. With an average of 18 possessions, he is still brilliantly good at times, but has unfortunately dropped 10-15 per cent in his disposal efficiency.
He will be instrumental in how far the Pies go this year, but unless he has the energy to reinvent himself and the appetite for a massive pre-season, I’m not sure he can continue to reproduce the efforts required of a top wing/half-forward.
On the other hand, I think we can put a tick in the box next to Scott Pendlebury (34) to go on. Collingwood doesn’t have an excess of senior players at his level with his brain and leadership, so if Pendlebury wants to continue, he should.
Eagle Shannon Hurn (34) has done enough to suggest if he wants to go around again, that he is still good enough. Teammate Luke Shuey (32) is good enough, but injuries are holding him back too often.
If Bulldog Mitch Wallis (29), continues to struggle to get a game he should retire. Like Mitch Robinson (33) at Brisbane, who can no longer demand a senior spot every week, and Michael Walters (31) at Fremantle, who is nowhere near the player he was.
Tex Walker (32) has already re-signed at Adelaide, and so he should have, being the Crows’ most dominant player.
Now to the Elephant in the china shop.
Lance Franklin. Yes, he’s had a very good year, and yes, he’d probably get a game at most clubs. But surely he owes Sydney more than Sydney owes him. If the contract details that have been released are correct, he has two options – stay at the Swans or start to think about the next phase of his life.
He’s been highly effective because the Swans know how to play him, so for him to think about playing for another club for more money is a slap in the face for Sydney.
Any club that signs a player to a long-term contract must expect that he may get injured throughout that time, and Lance Franklin has missed large chunks of a few seasons, including finals, due to injury. Now he’s back, fit and performing well, and I don’t think the football world would like him to retire. But if option one is not to take the Sydney contract on offer, then he should retire.
If all or any of these players retire this year, may we remember their great contribution to our game.
And as for 37-year-old David Mundy? If Justin Longmuir picks him every week, without offering short cuts due to travel – which is a lot tougher and demanding than people realise – then he should certainly pull on the jumper again next year. And while he’s at it, he can throw out his birth certificate.
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