Glenn’s 10: Players who have shocked the AFL with their retirement
IN the week Port Adelaide veteran Kane Cornes shocked many by announcing his departure from the game, Glenn McFarlane looks back at those who surprised fans by hanging up the boots.
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KANE Cornes shocked the football world this week when he decided to pull the pin on his AFL career even before the middle of the season — to become a fireman.
It’s fair to say that, at 32, he was unlikely to play on again next year anyway. But his recent form and the fact that has long put out on-field fires for the Power meant his decision to leave after his 300th game next week has caught more than a few people unaware.
Just imagine if Richmond’s Alex Rance does the same at the end of the year. The star defender is considering walking away from the game — at just 25 — and if he chooses to do that, rather than recommit to the Tigers — it would be a huge shock.
It got us thinking about some of the great retirement shocks in football in the AFL-era, from 1990 onwards.
There is no prize for guessing the biggest shock. It came when one of the biggest names to ever play the game walked away from it, but fortunately reversed it after a matter of months.
1. GARY ABLETT — GEELONG (1991)
Viewers watching a run-of-the-mill pre-season game on Channel 7 in early February 1991 got far more than they bargained for. When there was a cross to Scot Palmer for a footy update, he told them news they could barely believe. He and the Herald Sun’s Glen Quartermain had broken the story that Geelong superstar Gary Ablett had sensationally quit the game. Ablett was struggling to maintain his interest in the game after a few personal issues and the attention that was being placed on him brought about his decision to walk away from the game. Thankfully, Ablett relented and when he made his return in a Cats’ reserves match against Hawthorn at Princes Park in Round 12, a huge crowd turned up for the early curtain-raiser. He ended up kicking another 544 goals for the Cats from mid-1991 to his second and final retirement in early 1997.
2. TIM WATSON — ESSENDON (end of 1991)
Essendon great Tim Watson surprised even his coach Kevin Sheedy when he walked away from the game at the end of the 1991 season to take up a media career. Injuries played a significant role in this. Even after he made the decision, the Bombers gave the 30-year-old time to think it over some more. But he stood firm and began work with Channel 7. A few rival clubs hoped to be able to lure him out of retirement, including West Coast who drafted him in the pre-season of 1992, only to have Watson tell them they had wasted a pick. But exactly a year later the Bombers convinced Watson to return and the fairytale return came with a third premiership in 1993.
3. JAMES CLEMENT — COLLINGWOOD (end of 2007)
Collingwood expected Nathan Buckley to retire at the end of the 2007 season, and James Clement was widely tipped to take over the captaincy. Instead, Clement beat Buckley to the punch and retired well before his time. The defender quit — at only 31 — a few days after the Magpies lost a heartbreaking preliminary final to Geelong. It later emerged that Clement had retirement prematurely to support his wife, Jeanne, who was battling a health issue at the time.
4. NATHAN ABLETT — GEELONG (end of 2007)
Nathan Ablett — the son of champion Cat Gary, and the brother of Gary Jr — had always been a reluctant AFL footballer. The Cats coaxed him gently to the club and shielded him from as much publicity as it could in his three seasons in the AFL. But just as he seemed to be making his way in the game, Ablett chose to walk away. It came just a matter of months after he and Gary Jr. did something that their father could never manage — win an AFL flag. The siblings were a part of Geelong’s record-breaking 2007 premiership side, but Nathan took time out to consider his future in November. Early the next year he announced his retirement. He returned to play two games with Gold Coast in 2011, but he never reached the heights he had promised at Geelong.
5. DARREN GLASS — WEST COAST (end of 2014)
Darren Glass played his 270th game for the Eagles against the Hawks in Launceston last June. He had had a reasonable game and when he walked off the ground that day no one — not even his teammates or coach — knew what he had in store. On his return home to Perth, the 33-year-old shocked West Coast by announcing his retirement, effective immediately. Glass had been struggling to prepare himself for games and when watching one session, he realised he was already disengaged from the group, even though he was the captain. The club tried to get him to play a farewell game. He refused, saying the time was right to go then and there.
6. MITCH CLARK — MELBOURNE (2014)
It was only 13 months ago that Mitch Clark announced his retirement from football as part of his battle with depression. It’s worth remembering that given Clark’s emotional response after Geelong’s win over Collingwood last week. Clark reassured everyone last week that he was fine, but his battle is an ongoing one. Clark had joined the Demons with great hope and expectation in 2012, but a serious foot injury and his personal issues resulted in his retirement. And when he returned to the game — at Geelong — this year, the whole football world has been cheering him on.
7. DANIEL JACKSON — RICHMOND (late 2014)
Dan Jackson’s retirement was so swift and unexpected that it was assumed by some that there must have been a bigger story behind it. There wasn’t. The 28-year-old had been named in a 25-man squad to take on Port Adelaide in the elimination final, but he told teammates his body “hasn’t got any fight left in it.” After 11 season of hard work and hard attack on the ball, Jackson simply had nothing left to give.
8. ANDREW MCKAY — CARLTON (end of 2003)
How many blokes bow out as a best and fairest winner? Carlton’s Andrew McKay did. He had assumed the Blues captaincy during that season after Brett Ratten’s retirement, and went on to take his only club champion award. Then, to the surprise of the club, McKay quietly retired from the game at the age of 33, even though the club wanted him — almost pleaded with him — to play on.
9. CAMERON LING — GEELONG (end of 2011)
Cameron Ling went out on a high and Geelong could barely believe it when the 30-year-old called it quits after helping his team win the 2011 Grand Final. It was Ling’s third flag with the Cats and his performance in the play-off against Dane Swan was superb. Ling saw other opportunities outside football, including a television career with Channel 7, but the Cats would have loved to see him go on for at least another year.
10. LEON DAVIS — COLLINGWOOD (end of 2011)
Leon Davis retired from the game — at 30 — as an All-Australian. He had been selected in the best AFL side of the year after excelling in the back half of the ground. But, due to a contract issue, and his keenness to move back home to Perth, Davis quit Collingwood and never played another game of AFL football.
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