AFL Round 23 Port Adelaide v Adelaide: Tom Rockliff on retiring champion Robbie Gray

He’s played with a lot of champion footballers but, Tom Rockliff writes, Robbie Gray is the best of the lot. And there are so many reasons why.

Do you remember these incredible Robbie Gray moments?

When I first came to Port Adelaide Robbie Gray never said anything in the meetings before the game.

This changed in my first Showdown in 2018.

I came back into the team that week after an absence and the Crows were on a run of five straight wins in Showdowns.

Robbie had never said much in those meetings pre game but before that Showdown he spoke up and everyone just listened.

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He just spoke about what Showdowns mean to him, everything he had gone through – it was his first year after the testicular cancer diagnosis.

He touched on the importance of the game for Port Adelaide people and the players that came before us, his dislike for the Crows and why it was time for us to make a statement.

In the change rooms he had a simple message to us, we don’t lose this one.

It just inspired the boys and gave us that steely edge and we were able to win that game and break the losing streak against the Crows.

That’s Robbie. You rarely hear him speak, he is so softly spoken and quiet but when he speaks particularly in the change rooms everyone stops and listens.

Tom Rockliff and Robbie Gray in the 2018 pre-season. Picture: AAP Image/Ben Macmahon

A lot of this is because of just how good he is on the footy field, you talk about clutch players or big game players and he sits at number one for me.

You look at the times he has kicked a goal to either put Port Adelaide in front or kicked a goal after a siren or late on in a game, it is second to none and if there is one person you want their hands on the ball it is Robbie’s.

Because you know he is going to do something special in and around the contest, his movement, his footy brain is as good as I’ve come across.

The thing you noticed when you played with or against him is how balanced he is, he never loses his feet he always holds his ground.

He was near impossible to tackle at times.

I can comfortably say he is the greatest player I’ve ever played with.

I know I’ve played with some great players at Port Adelaide and at Brisbane as well in my career, but for me Robbie is No. 1.

Not only is he a champion player but he is also a champion human.

He is so humble and I think that is why everyone admires him so much.

He is just pure class with a heart of gold.

I remember last year when I hurt my knees, he was the first one along with Paul Stewart to be sitting with me on my couch at home just chatting and trying to take my mind off it.

If I ever had surgery he would always be there with some treats or what not in hospital.

He was always there and that’s one of the things I admire the most about Robbie we know what he can do on the field but he is a pure gentleman off the field.

And I wouldn’t be the only one he has done this for, he has been there for a lot of players during his career.

He can be quite shy, reserved and quiet but he just has a heart of gold.

A Victorian kid, there was never any talk or chatter if he would try and head home after coming to Alberton.

The loyalty he has shown throughout his career, and also off the field as well, he is one of those true blokes that you would love in your corner.

He would do anything for anyone he cares about, he is protective and I think that is why I love him.

If you are mates with him and loyal with him he is as tight as they come, he is always thinking of others as well which is something I admire about him as well.

This selfless nature is even more incredible when you think about what he has had to go through in his career.

He is a resilient warrior, first what he went through with his knee in 2012 I think not many other players would actually make it back from that.

It was more than the ACL injury, there were complications around that but the way he was able to bounce back and play footy again was incredible and what he was able to do after that he was irresistible.

From 2013 onwards he was a superstar of the competition and a matchwinner, he was someone who could turn a game on its head in five or six minutes and I think that’s why everyone at Port Adelaide loves him so much.

Rockliff and Travis Boak chair off Gray after his 200th game. Picture: Michael Dodge/Getty Images

Rockliff says Gray is the greatest player he’s played with. Picture: Sarah Reed

He is one of the most professional players off the field as well, especially with his knee. The amount of pre-hab and different stuff he does around knee preparation was incredible.

He spends hours in the gym to make sure that his body is right to perform.

And then there is the testicular cancer in 2017.

It doesn’t get spoken about that often, maybe Robbie doesn’t want to bring it up that much himself.

Before it got announced he had been doing some work behind the scenes in trying to convince me to come from Brisbane to Port Adelaide.

He never mentioned what he was going through at the time, it was just about trying to convince me to come to Alberton.

And then I saw it in the media and I was like oh my god what is happening here.

We played International Rules together in 2014 and 2015 so we had a little bit of a relationship but for him to even reach out and make contact when he was going through what he was going through it just goes to show the type of person he is.

I just got here after he finished all his treatment for the cancer and I think our first running session was together and you could still see he was making his way back after what would have been one of the most challenging times in his life.

But what he was able to do after that treatment and the off-season he had, he came back and he was an All-Australian.

It just goes to show how dedicated and committed he is.

He just got the most out of himself, I don’t know what it is like to go through that but I would imagine it would be extremely challenging.

Rockliff (right) at Gray’s media conference announcing his retirement. Picture: Sarah Reed

Cancer is nothing to laugh about or sneeze at and the way he was able to work through that and be an All-Australian, come on who can do that.

It is just incredible to think what he did.

I was shattered that he hurt his knee in round one, I heard that he had a super summer I spoke to a couple of people around the club and they said it was his best pre-season for four or five years.

So I think he hurt that pretty badly and he probably had every right to give it away then or go in for surgery but he just battled through and his resilience to perform is second to none.

He will finish without a premiership, it is probably one of the sad things but not all players can go out with a flag like Shane Crawford but his career will be celebrated for how good he is and has been.

We have seen one of the all-time great players of our era.

I can’t wait to go fishing with him, he tells me he is a keen fisher but who knows.

But first he has a Showdown, and what better way to go out in the game that he has dominated time after time.

I really hope that the fans pack out Adelaide Oval to give one the great man a fitting farewell

Joy and heartbreak: Remarkable impact of Gray’s clutch moments

- Matt Turner

It says plenty about Robbie Gray that he considers his career highlight a game when he has eight touches and does not kick a goal.

Gray has provided Port Adelaide fans with joy – and opposition supporters with heartbreak – over 16 years as one of the most-clutch players of this generation.

So many times the classy forward/midfielder has stepped up to win a game for the Power.

Against Carlton at the Gabba in 2020, it happened after the final siren.

In 2018, he booted five goals in a quarter – in a Showdown of all games.

A year earlier, there were 15 seconds left when he slotted a go-ahead goal to secure a win versus St Kilda.

In 2014, four majors in the second term swung a semi-final against Fremantle in Perth.

But when the 34-year-old was asked at his retirement press conference on Tuesday what stood out from his 270-game career, he did not pick any of those moments.

Nor any of his record five Showdown Medal wins or games he had the ball on a string.

Do you remember these incredible Robbie Gray moments?

He nominated the Power’s 2013 elimination final victory over Collingwood at the MCG.

Port Adelaide won by 24 points, but Gray had little influence.

His statistics included eight disposals, one inside 50, two clearances, zero goals.

That match stood out to him because it was the club’s first finals triumph in seven years after being in the doldrums the previous few seasons.

And he was just happy to play his part, having missed the bulk of the 2012 campaign with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament.

He only had eight touches, but Gray nominates Port’s 2013 elimination final win over Collingwood as his finest footy memory. Picture: AAP

Not only has Gray been one of the best big-moment players of the past two decades, he is also among the quietest, most team-first and humble of superstars.

The softly-spoken Victorian thrived on the big-game spotlight but shunned the limelight.

Tuesday was one of few press conferences he’d had in the past five years.

If Gray had his way, he might have announced he was hanging up the boots post-season, so he could have avoided fronting the media and headed off into the sunset without the fanfare of this week being all about him.

It would not have been a surprise.

When Gray celebrated his 250th game milestone last year, he stayed in the background.

Instead, teammates and coaches fronted the cameras.

They talked about his highlights, smarts, freakish skills, incredible hands, work in traffic and goalkicking.

But also his reserved nature, hard work off the field, generosity and comeback from his ACL.

Gray’s coach for the past decade, Ken Hinkley, last week said he considered the 183cm matchwinner the Power’s best ever player.

Asked for his take on that, Gray said uncomfortably: “You know how much I love speaking about myself …”

His response drew laughter from his teammates, all of whom gathered to watch in the Bob Quinn stand’s new function room.

Gray joins dual Magarey Medallist Quinn on the roll call of Port Adelaide’s champions.

To mark the club’s 150th anniversary in 2020, a panel formed by The Advertiser ranked Gray as Port Adelaide’s 14th greatest player of all-time – No. 3 in the AFL era.

Among his honours are four All-Australian blazers, three best-and-fairests, the Coaches Association Player of the Year award in 2014 and twice leading Port Adelaide’s goalkicking.

He has since added to his legacy with plenty of starring performances, including that goal against Carlton, and is now second overall for Power goals with 365 and fourth for games.

Gray with his family after announcing his retirement. Picture: Sarah Reed

Not bad for a player who had worked at a meat packing company in Melbourne in his draft year, did not expect to land on an AFL list and had to wait until pick 55 to join the Power.

Gray has also overcome significant setbacks, such as that 2012 ACL that cost him all bar two games that season and a testicular cancer diagnosis in 2017.

A premiership is missing from his CV and that disappoints him.

But he is another example of the age-old debate about how much we should value success in evaluating a superstar’s career.

Along with close mate and fellow Power great Travis Boak, Gray can hardly have done any more trying to end the club’s flag drought.

They helped lift it from irrelevance, stayed loyal when it would have been easy to leave, then spearheaded its turnaround into a contender, only to fall short in three preliminary finals.

Is that a knock on Gray?

It should not be.

Finishing flagless hardly minimises the careers of the likes of Tony Lockett, Robert Harvey, Gary Ablett Sr, Nick Riewoldt and Matthew Pavlich.

So Gray will not get his Shane Crawford moment.

He would have walked past the microphone on the dais anyway.

But Gray and Power fans will get a chance to say goodbye to each other in the state’s sporting centrepiece, a match he has dominated more than any other player.

“He’s the absolute best of the best when it comes to playing the game but he’s equally as far up on the list of great people,” Hinkley said.

“We will all reflect back at some point and go ‘I coached Robbie Gray – he should’ve been coaching me – or I played with Robbie Gray, I was his teammate, I was a mate’.”

Port Adelaide fans would unlikely have expected much from such a late selection in 2006.

Sixteen years later, he exits as a much-loved club great and one of the league’s most watchable players who has let his football do the talking.

Let me entertain you: One last show for Robbie

—Matt Turner and Liz Walsh

Retiring Port Adelaide star Robbie Gray says his desire to play AFL remains but a grumbly knee has caught up with him, making now the right time to bow out.

Gray, one of the club’s greatest ever players, announced his retirement on Tuesday, ahead of a swan song in Saturday night’s home Showdown.

The 34-year-old has been hampered by a knee problem since round 1 against Brisbane, going through most of the season without training.

With his contract coming to an end, Gray said he had been discussing his future with his family for a while.

“Getting to this sort of age and with the issues I’ve had with my body, I knew it was the right time, as hard as it is to make the call and admit to yourself,” Gray said.

“Just the knee really.

“I had that big operation (in 2012 for a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament) a long time ago and a really good run after that but it’s got a bit grumbly the last few years and round 1 I had a bit of an incident with it … and coming back to play has been a bit of a struggle.

Robbie Gray was the king of clutch moments for the Power. Picture: Getty Images

“It (the desire) is certainly there, I love competing.

“I suppose after I weighed everything up I felt like this was the right call for me personally and the footy club.

“I’m really comfortable with it (retiring) and look forward to whatever’s next.”

Gray did not expect to be drafted at all, only to arrive at Alberton via pick 55 in 2006.

He now sits fourth on the Power’s all-time games list with 270 and is second, behind only premiership captain Warren Tredrea, for goals with 365.

Gray’s illustrious playing CV also includes four All-Australian honours, three best-and-fairests, being named the AFL Coaches Association Player in 2014 and twice leading Port Adelaide’s goalkicking.

The Victorian said it was special to finish as a one-club player.

“I didn’t really know what it’d be like coming over,” he said.

“I just feel incredibly grateful to the football club, firstly for picking me up then there were people early on that had big influences on my career, saw something in me and really taught me the way.

“I didn’t have huge expectations so to be here after all this time is pretty crazy to think about.”

Robbie Gray is set to retire. Picture: Getty Images

Gray’s career has included 10 major-round matches, including three preliminary finals but no flag deciders or premierships.

“It’s disappointing not to have one but I’ve given everything to the game and this footy club,” he said.

“I look forward to watching this group get what they deserve in time and I hope that happens really soon.”

Thank you for the great memories brother. Great player even better person. 🙏🏽❤️ 🐐 https://t.co/I5MYvCbwFP

— Travis Boak (@travisboak10) August 16, 2022

Gray said he could not wait to play in front of supporters one last time in a sold-out Showdown.

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley said Gray always put the team first and did not want to go on for another year for the sake of it.

Hinkley said Gray’s performances in big moments made him stand out as the club’s greatest AFL player.

“He does it that often for you, he does it that reliably for you,” Hinkley said.

Port Adelaide chairman David Koch said Gray had made an enormous contribution to the club and its culture.

“Everyone knows what a legend he is on the field,” Koch said.

“For me, it is Robbie Gray, the man, the dad, the human being, which has been the most important part of his time at Port Adelaide.”

Koch said Gray’s retirement was “almost a changing of the guard”, which would make for an emotional Saturday night.

Facing Adelaide is a fitting farewell, given Gray is the all-time leader in Showdown Medal wins with five.

“Showdowns are always special, but to be Robbie’s last game makes it extra special for us as a club to send him off in the right way,” he said.

With Gray keen to stay in football, Koch hinted that he expected him to continue his association with the club.

“I’m sure he will, we’ve talked about that,” he said.

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Originally published as AFL Round 23 Port Adelaide v Adelaide: Tom Rockliff on retiring champion Robbie Gray