Brett Deledio admits he thought about retiring after the GWS Giants’ preliminary final loss
WHEN Brett Deledio runs out onto the MCG to take on Collingwood he could be excused for having a flashback to the last time he played on the hallowed turf. The night he thought his career was over.
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WHEN Brett Deledio runs out onto the MCG to take on Collingwood he could be excused for having a flashback to the last time he played on the hallowed turf - the time he thought his career was over.
His old team Richmond had beaten the Giants by six goals in the preliminary final on route to their drought-breaking premiership.
As he limped off the MCG with yet another Achilles injury his mind was wandering all over the place.
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His former teammates were celebrating, they were on the way to the Grand Final, a place he had never been in his 12 years at Punt Road.
For most of that time he was one of their very best players and for a period clearly their best, and now he was missing out.
Before he made it to the rooms one of his best mates at the Tigers, captain Trent Cotchin came across to console him.
“He’s a good kid Trent,” Deledio said.
“I’ve known him for a lot of years even prior to him coming to the Tiges, we had the same manager many years ago. I’ve still got a great connection with a lot of those boys.
“To get a hug and whatever else off them, it was good because I was obviously hurting quite a bit. I was more disappointed that my body had let me down and I wasn’t able to perform the way I’d like to perform.
“It is what it is, we weren’t good enough on the day and the rest is history for the Tiges.”
He didn’t watch the Grand Final and still hasn’t — when it was on he took his family to Taronga Zoo.
“Still haven’t watched it,” Deledio said.
“I don’t see any need to right now. I’ve seen enough highlights, if you watch enough Fox Sports you see just about every bit of play. I haven’t watched it yet but I spent a lot of quality time with my wife and little daughter at the time.”
As he strolled among the wildlife with the harbour views he was still feeling the frustration of playing hurt and wondering if it was worth playing on.
After coming back in Round 20 he hurt his troublesome Achilles again in the bye week before the finals but carried it through September.
“I was just fed up with my body,” Deledio said.
“I’d just got myself going really well and then my Achilles in that bye that we had, I just got sore and then I carried that right through the finals and I wasn’t able to perform the way I wanted to.
“It was probably a little bit of an embarrassment how I was playing. Being a pretty proud man I was disappointed that I couldn’t do what I wanted to do.
“It does cross your mind, you think the game’s starting to go past you when you get a bit older and your body is letting yourself down. I’m probably being a bit too honest here but that’s the things that cross your mind.”
Those feelings of doubt didn’t last too long. A bush getaway with family made him realise he still had plenty to give at the age of 30 and with another two years to run on his contract at GWS.
“It didn’t take me too long (to recover),” Deledio said.
“I wouldn’t say I was chipper straight away. I went away with my dad, my uncle, my two cousins and my brother, we went away shooting for five or six days and that was really refreshing just to be back and had some good conversations with those boys and just really knew that I still had that opportunity to continue to strive to what I’ve always wanted to do and that’s win that ultimate prize.
“I’m pretty excited about what we can do this year and I’m in a great head space, my body’s finally co-operating which is good.
“I’m just looking forward to hopefully stringing a lot of games together.”
A radically different pre-season with plenty of sand training at the beach and time off his legs has done the trick.
The match against the Magpies will make it two in a row and with the JLT Series it’s three. With a month of matches under his belt the veteran feels he will be back to near his best.
If he can then the fairytale finish may still be his with the Giants already looking like premiership contenders again.
Originally published as Brett Deledio admits he thought about retiring after the GWS Giants’ preliminary final loss
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