The moment Western Bulldogs champion Tom Boyd knew it was time to quit

Tom Boyd’s decision to retire from football rocked the AFL community, but he remains adamant he stepped away at the right time.

Tom Boyd’s decision to retire from professional football rocked the AFL community, but the Western Bulldogs champion remains adamant he stepped away from the game at the right time.

The talented Victorian was on a $7 million, seven-year deal with the Bulldogs when he announced his retirement at the tender age of 23, leaving millions on the table.

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Boyd, Lifeline’s newest official ambassador, had been outspoken about his mental health problems for several years, with injury also plaguing his five-year tenure at Footscray.

But the footballer knew it was time to call it quits when a dull university lecture became more appealing to him than playing the sport he loved.

“Over the course of a really difficult, highly intense and obviously competitive career, regardless of the industry, you can ask yourself the question on a very regular basis, is it worth it?” he explained to news.com.au.

“Is it worth doing that extra session? Is it worth missing that wedding or that family function? Or is it worth not being able to go on holidays?

“And for me, I answered that question over and over again until I got to the point where I remember sitting in the Victoria University car park. I was about to walk into not that exciting of a lecture as part of my business degree on a Monday or Tuesday night.

“And I just remember feeling this overwhelming sense that I was more excited to walk into that lecture than I had been to walk into the football club for a long time.

“And I sat there with my thoughts for a little while, gathered all of the information from the last five or six years that I’ve had as an AFL football, and I realised that the time was right for me to move on.”

Tom Boyd of the Bulldogs at the 2016 AFL Grand Final. Photo by Darrian Traynor/AFL Media/Getty Images

Boyd was drafted by the GWS Giants at the No. 1 pick in 2013, playing eight games for the Sydney-based team before signing for the Bulldogs ahead of the 2015 season.

He won a drought-breaking premiership with the Bulldogs in 2016, registering three goals and six contested marks in the grand final against the Sydney Swans.

But Boyd’s struggles with mental health presented unique challenges throughout his football career — he confessed to sometimes feeling ashamed about his emotions.

“Talking about it for a long time was really taboo,” he said.

“I thought that since I was a really successful footballer, because I was getting paid a lot of money, because I had all these things going for me, that there we no possible way I could struggle … that it was something I shouldn’t be feeling given my circumstances.

“That’s one of the really big challenges that we’ve faced over an extended period, the belief that having a certain sort of life composition equals happiness or the inability to suffer or struggle, and that’s obviously not the case.

“I certainly felt this deep sense of responsibility to live out the expectations that were placed on me by both myself and the broader community as a footballer.

“There’s always going to be detractors, and there’s always going to be people who haven’t quite understood the message as well as others.”

Those who have never experienced a panic attack may not realise how terrifying an ordeal it can be, and unfortunately for Boyd, they regularly struck while he was driving.

“It feels like you’re having a heart attack,” he said.

“You feel like your heart’s racing at 1000 beats per minute; you’re sweating, you’re feeling completely paralysed by this tenseness that goes through your body.

“It was something that’s incredibly disconcerting, particularly the first few times you have it because it feels like you’re literally about to die.

“It’s a really confronting moment when you feel like your body’s out of your own control.”

Tom Boyd in 2013. Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images

Following his retirement, Boyd was determined to find the best outlet for his charitable work in the mental health sphere.

“I spoke to a lot of people and pretty much unanimously people said Lifeline was the place to do it,” he explained.

“It’s really humbling to be part of such a wonderful cause, something that I’m so passionate about.

“One of the really important things to understand about Lifeline is they’re here to support you all the time.

“It’s so important that we encourage people who are struggling, who are concerned, or who really feel like their outlook of life is quite bleak to reach out and access support and deal with these problems not by themselves.”

Boyd was unveiled as Lifeline’s newest official ambassador over the weekend, taking part in the Shine a Light campaign to grow awareness about suicide stigmas.

After the Covid-19 health pandemic hit Australia in early 2020, Lifeline experienced a 44 per cent growth in service demand.

“(The pandemic) was scary, it was scary for everyone,” Boyd recalled.

“It was disconcerting that life had been turned on its head.

“The fact that Lifeline are experiencing such a high volume of calls simply means they are struggling with capacity.”

Boyd recently released his first book Nowhere to Hide, which he penned during the pandemic, also working three days a week for tech company Everperform.

The mental health advocate and his partner Hannah are getting married in December, with the couple welcoming their first child together earlier this year.

You can donate to Lifeline here.