Easton Wood couldn’t stomach the thought that he might let the Western Bulldogs down next year. The idea of always putting the club’s interests first had been drilled into him by Bob Murphy, the man alongside whom Wood held aloft the premiership cup in 2016, ending what was at the time the AFL’s longest premiership drought.
Wood was contracted for 2022, and pulling the pin a year early would mean relinquishing tens of thousands of dollars. But that was a secondary consideration.
Easton Wood (right) has retired after 188 games, most famously captaining the Bulldogs to the 2016 flag.Credit: Joe Armao
“No matter how much I was getting paid next year, if I felt like I was just rocking up to get a pay cheque knowing that ‘jeez at any moment if I pinged a string or I got dropped that I could just pull the pin’ and leave the club high and dry, I’d feel sick about that. I don’t think I’d be able to ever reconcile that, no matter how much was coming back the other way,” Wood told The Age.
So, having first thought about the idea of a premature retirement as early as May, Wood - after discussions with wife Tiff and a close circle of friends - has decided to forego his 2022 contract, retiring from the AFL after 188 games since being drafted at pick 43 out of high school at the end of 2007.
Easton Wood flies during the grand final, what would prove to be his final game.Credit: Getty
The idea had first popped up during the round-nine win this year against Port Adelaide. The Dogs were flying, but the defender was faltering. His hamstring gave way early in the game. It was his third such injury of the year and the 20th of his career.
“You know how there’s the definition of insanity of doing the same thing twice and expect a different response? I was thinking, is that where I’m at and have I already crossed over? What’s going to change? That kind of incident rocked me a little bit. I thought that was my body saying it wasn’t kind of up to the demands of AFL.” Wood said.
Briefly, he pondered whether that would be it.
“You kind of catastrophise straight after the event and you kind of have to bottom out before you can come back up. I was confronting that idea of ‘am I done?’ And then after a few days, and you let the emotions settle a bit you go, ‘no I’m not, it’s round nine, it’s only a grade-one.’
“[But] once that idea was planted in my head it was kind of hard to avoid thinking about it.
“The great thing was I kind of made a deal with myself that I’ll do everything I can to get back and if it goes again then that might be it. But if it doesn’t I’ll try to eke out as much [as I can].”
Eke he did. Though it took him more than two months to get back into the senior side, a journey that included a VFL stint and another month sidelined because of an ankle injury, Wood made it back. He was there for the Dogs’ capitulation over the final rounds of the home-and-away season, and then for their mighty national tour through the finals.
But the gnawing hadn’t gone away. And a brutal reality had dawned. Wood’s body, torn and repaired so regularly over the years, was no longer doing what his mind willed him to do.
“The thing that became apparent over that period and probably what’s been the driving factor in my decision-making is that whilst it was great to be back in the team and be fit, it’s a bit hard to confront but I’ve athletically declined. Just not quite as fast as I used to be and I can’t quite jump as high either. It’s only small, but it might mean missing the ball by a centimetre.
“Kind of confronting that reality I sat back and looked at next year and thought, ‘jeez I don’t want to decline more and find myself out of the team and go out that way,’ so I’ve decided to go out that slightly bit early, go out on my own terms and albeit not the way we wanted it to end, losing that grand final, but I go out playing at the pinnacle of the sport, so I’m really content and proud.”
Marcus Bontempelli Easton Wood embrace after the Bulldogs’ preliminary final win.Credit: AFL Photos
Coach Luke Beveridge was understanding. Having already witnessed a handful of premiership players step away while under contract for varying reasons, he did not seek to twist Wood’s arm.
“He said he was a little bit surprised, which was I suppose nice to hear, flattering. But he didn’t attempt to change my mind, he just thanked me for what I’d done. And obviously I thanked him because when he came along he turned me into a different player. I’ve had exactly half my career with him, and I became probably twice the player I was before he came along.”
Wood’s assertion that Beveridge changed his career is not an over-simplification. The backman had played 65 largely unobtrusive matches to the end of 2014 when the coach arrived. But Beveridge backed Wood to fly for his marks and win the ball, rather than just nullify.
The years that followed would bring a best-and-fairest crown and All-Australian blazer in 2015 before elevation to the vice-captaincy ahead of the 2016 campaign.
“It’s a bit hard to confront but I’ve athletically declined. Just not quite as fast as I used to be and I can’t quite jump as high either”
Easton Wood
Has there ever been a more famous deputy in VFL/AFL history? Murphy’s season-ending knee injury in round three thrust Wood into the top job, and eventually into immortality as a premiership captain. Murphy resumed the captaincy in 2017 before Wood stepped up properly at the end of that season until Marcus Bontempelli took over.
Wood says his footballing peak came in the first quarter of the preliminary final win over Greater Western Sydney in which he “marked everything”.
He had been reluctant to dwell too much on the premiership at the time, mindful that at 27 he still had plenty of unfinished business.
“When I experienced it all in real-time, I really wanted to solidify those memories myself. I haven’t watched the grand final back. That was a really conscious decision to make sure my memories were through my own eyes ... but also at that stage I was probably in the prime of my career, and I was thinking ‘I want more.’ And I can’t get more by looking back.
Murphy and Wood after the 2016 grand final.Credit: Getty
“But I tell you what, I’ll be watching it pretty soon. There’ll be no guilt whatsoever, I’ll just chuck it on and live off the glory for a while!”
Wood, like so many Victorians after two COVID-riddled years, is in the short term just planning on enjoying the simple pleasures of life with Tiff, daughter Matilda (aged two), and son Frederick, soon to turn one.
Having stayed in Victoria during lockdown this time around, Wood wants Tiff to be able to dedicate time to her consultancy business.
“My wife’s incredible, she’s supported me through this whole thing.”
For Wood, there are no concrete plans about the next chapter from there. Staying in footy is an option, but after 14 years a break is welcome.
Whether he has a future in the game or not, his place in its history is secure. Bulldog VFL/AFL premiership captains. There are just two. Charlie Sutton, and the kid from Camperdown.
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