Eddie Betts on retirement, his wizardry and what the future holds

How do you tell your kids your career is over? Eddie Betts opens up on the toughest conversation he’s had about retirement ahead of his final game.

The beauty of art is that it is no less valuable when the creator cannot exactly explain how they have produced their masterpiece.

Eddie Betts, who made the Sherrin sing almost as perfectly as anyone else this century, is a case in point.

Asked at his retirement press conference on Tuesday how he has so regularly made the impossible possible, Betts doesn’t have an easy explanation for his knack of kicking goals from the most acute of angles.

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Carlton coach David Teague and Eddie Betts at Blues training on Tuesday. Picture: Getty Images

“To be honest, I always tell people I don’t know how they go in,” Betts explained.

“I just try and kick it in that direction (towards goal) and most of the time it goes in.”

Betts has kicked 638 goals since slotting his maiden goal against North Melbourne as an 18-year-old in 2005.

The now 34-year-old will likely add to that tally when he bows out of AFL football in his 350th game on Saturday night.

It seems incongruous one of the AFL’s greatest showmen will play his last game without a crowd.

Betts is not bitter about that, or the fact Carlton didn’t offer him a new contract.

He is grateful to have been able to express himself on the field for as long as he has.

“My father taught me to be nice, to be kind, to treat everyone equally and to put smiles on people’s faces,” Betts said.

“I love to kick goals; I love to entertain.

“The dream was to play AFL football, to play one game. Here I am now 17 years later, 350 games to finish on. I kind of pinch myself to be honest.”

There was a time when a young Eddie Betts had wanted to hang up the boots.

THE BLUES

One of the first people Betts spoke to following his retirement this week was Shane O’Sullivan, who has been the heart and soul of the Blues for decades.

O’Sullivan recruited the energetic but chunky kid in the 2004 pre-season draft, and thankfully stopped him from retiring not long after he started to seriously make his mark.

Betts moved to Melbourne as a 15-year-old in the hope of chasing his dream after spending his formative years in Port Lincoln and Kalgoorlie.

He said: “Moving across to Melbourne, with my mother and my aunty and my cousins, and getting drafted to Carlton and having ‘Shaneo’ to support me (was important).”

“There was a point there where I almost finished up. I think it was 2007 or maybe 2009.

The trademark Eddie Betts smile has always been there.

I rang ‘Shaneo’ and said: ‘I am done with footy, I don’t want to play anymore’. ‘Shaneo’ convinced me to continue playing.”

Thankfully for Carlton, and Adelaide, and footy fans as a whole, Betts decided to play on.

His first stint at Carlton taught him so much about himself, with his visits to schools as part of footy clinics equally valuable.

“When I got to the AFL system, I couldn’t read or write properly,” he said. “I went to school (as a kid) but I skipped a lot.

“I hadn’t got in front of a class to speak. I learnt that when I got drafted and started going to schools and talking to kids.

“When I first did that, I knew I was good at footy, so I was like ‘let’s go out and kick the footy’. Now when I go to schools, I don’t want to kick the footy; I want to sit in class.

“(Going to schools) taught me to use my voice and I have to thank my wife (Anna) for that, for telling me to believe in (myself) and to believe in my culture.”

Betts’ strong, inspiring voice against racism is now one of the most powerful in the nation.

Betts with one of his four Phil Manassa medals for goal of the year. Picture: AFL Photos/Getty Images

FAVOURITE GOAL

Betts’ favourite goal was the third of his four Goals of the Year.

It came when he was playing at Adelaide against Greater Western Sydney at Adelaide Oval in 2016 from the unofficial ‘Eddie Betts pocket’.

“It was the Sir Doug Nicholls Round and my dad’s sister, Susie Betts, designed the guernsey,” he said.

“They got her, my grandmother and my dad over there and sat them up in the box. To kick that goal and win Goal of the Year was unbelievable.”

He somehow kept the ball in play, launching it from an almost impossible angle and distance.

Eddie Betts booted one of his four goal of the year winners against GWS in 2016. Picture: AAP

His first Goal of the Year came in his second year at Carlton in 2006.

“Heath Scotland got knocked out (by Alan Didak) … I keep reminding him about that,” he said.

“The ball went forward and (Tarkyn) Lockyer hand passed it. I intercepted it and from the boundary line (kicked a) checkside goal.

“I remember Fev (Brendan Fevola) putting his hand up and trying to call for the ball. I didn’t see him. I just saw the goals and went for it.”

His second Goal of the Year in 2015 was “a left-foot torpedo on the boundary in the wet.”

“The last one was in my 300th game against Gold Coast at Adelaide Oval (in 2019) from the same pocket.”

He added: “I reckon they should name the pocket once and for all now.”

First-year Eddie Betts was an absolute vibe.

Eddie becomes a Blue.

SAYING GOODBYE

Betts has known for three weeks he wasn’t getting a new contract.

He kept his silence on the matter until Monday night, but the emotion of playing at Adelaide Oval for the last time last week almost proved too much.

“I bawled my eyes out in the changerooms,” he said. “The (Carlton) boys didn’t know at that stage I was going to retire.”

Telling his five kids (Lewis, Billy, Alice, Maggie and Eddie Jr) was the hardest thing.

“I have five beautiful, wonderful, crazy kids,” he said.

“I only told Lewy the other day. That was probably the hardest conversation because he broke down in tears. I said to him the next chapter is going to be different, but better.

“I’ll be supporting (the kids) through their journey, and I will still be standing up for what I believe in, and that’s (bringing an end to) racism here in Australia.”

The Baggers pay tribute to their retiring legend. Picture: Getty Images

“I have a bigger role to play now and my journey is only just beginning.”

David Teague and Eddie Betts in their playing days together.

BLUES’ FUTURE

Betts is convinced the Blues are on the right path, despite a nightmare 2021.

“I said to the (Carlton) boys, I played for the Adelaide Crows and we went to the Grand Final in 2017, we didn’t have a talented side, but everyone played their role,” he said.

“This young list is so talented, they have just got to believe in themselves and play their role.

“I will be supporting them. I’ll also be supporting Adelaide.”

Betts feels for his mate David Teague, who is fighting against the odds to keep his job.

“I am obviously very close with David … he has always been calm in the way he addresses us as a team,” he said.

“It doesn’t always fall back on one person. We are the ones out there playing, we have to be held responsible and accountable for our actions.

“Last week we lost by 95 points; that’s not on David, that’s on us.”

HIS FUTURE

Betts’ retirement hasn’t stopped clubs trying to coax him into playing again, including Whorouly Lions in the Ovens and Murray League.

“My brother-in-law has already hooked me up with the Whorouly Lions,” he said.

“He said ‘you can come down here and we’ll put you in the forward pocket’.

“I don’t think that is going to happen.

“My time is done; Cyril Rioli’s time is done, but we’ve got all these young Aboriginal players coming through.

“The next generation are the ones who are going to put bums on seats – the likes of Kozzie Pickett and Charlie Cameron coming through.”

Betts will carry on his fight to make footy a safer, more inclusive place for future Indigenous players, which one day hopefully might include one or more of his kids.

Eddie Betts darts past his North Melbourne defender to kick his first AFL goal. Picture: Martin Philbey

The 10 moments that made Betts an AFL great

Eddie Betts made Glenn Archer look like he was wearing concrete boots.

It was Round 1, 2005 and Betts’ first career goal was never going to be a routine set shot or Joe-the-Goose in the goalsquare.

In the third term of the Marvel Stadium contest he crumbed a Lance Whitnall tap-out ahead of opponent Troy Makepeace and darted hard right past the Shinboner of the Century.

He swerved right, fumbled, collected with the one-touch hands that would become his trademark, and then snapped across his body from 30m out.

Cue special comments man Kevin Bartlett: “Denis Pagan told me recently Eddie Betts has got something special”.

350 games and 638 goals (and counting) later, Pagan nailed it.

So here are the top 10 moments from a career that will have a postscript perhaps as important as anything he has done on the field.

1. Goal of the year 2016

Adelaide is playing Greater Western Sydney and opponent Nick Haynes is determined not to give Betts an inch of space.

AS the ball spills to the boundary, he gathers and shrugs off Hayes with a deft flick of his hips while still controlling the ball on the boundary line.

Betts sprints past Haynes with the ball held low to evade his clutches, then snaps from 35m across his body as a despairing Adam Tomlinson tries to drag him down.

Pure genius. Pure instinct. Pure magic, as Anthony Hudson road: “In his pocket, for his goal, and his people celebrate.”

Betts wins the third of his four Goal of The Year trophies for perhaps his greatest football moment.

"There is no room for racism in Australia."

Eddie Betts speaks after Taylor Walker incident.

Tune into #AFL360 on Ch 502 or stream on @kayosportspic.twitter.com/c4zhXPb5vS

— Fox Footy (@FOXFOOTY) August 10, 2021

2. Eddie Betts on AFL 360 in June 2020

How do you measure the freakish talents with the legacy of campaigning against racism when the battle is so far from being won?

Last year after another “monkey” taunt on social media, Betts broke hearts around the country as he explained just why the abuse hurts so much.

“It’s just tiring, just fighting fighting fighting every year. The last six years over in Adelaide I’ve been racially abused every year online, I had a banana thrown at me and quite frankly I’m getting sick and tired of it.”

In 20 years we might remember Betts just as we do Nicky Winmar for his black-and-proud stance at Victoria Park

This. All of this. 💙

Written and narrated by Eddie Betts. Vision courtesy of FOX Footy's AFL 360.#OwnTheFuturepic.twitter.com/ioacZ8qXqk

— Carlton FC (@CarltonFC) August 19, 2020

3. A freak goal deep in the pocket against Carlton in Round 18, 2021

Poor old Henry Slattery never had a chance.

Betts collects a long bomb near the goal and immediately falls, using the actual Sherrin as a prop by balancing it on the turf to regain his footing and composure.

He fakes out Dyson Heppell by feigning a handball and freezes him on the spot, dances past Slattery a second time and snaps a fifth goal from close range deep in the pocket. He has travelled perhaps 12 metres yet executed about eight complex manoeuvres most of us could never dream about.

4. Eddie’s pocket becomes legend

It was said of Andrew Krakouer that he could play footy in a phone box given his sense of calm and dare when in close confines.

Betts rivals him in this 2013 goal against Port Adelaide where he snaffles the ball on the boundary line in the right forward pocket.

He feints left, he feints right, he pivots, he drops the ball and dances past Cam O’Shea then snaps around his body on his left foot. O’Shea is dumbstruck. How could Betts turn him inside out when he had him in his grasp?

“Still a chance … Eddie … That is amazing … Eddie is back,” roars Dwayne Russell.

Eddie made the Adelaide Oval pocket his own. Picture: Sarah Reed

5. His 2006 goal of the year gets better with repeat viewings

He intercepts Tarkyn Lockyer’s high handball over his head as the crowd is still digesting Alan Didak’s high bump on Heath Scotland only moments earlier, sprinting onto the loose ball.

Then the moment of inspiration, conjuring a low right-footed checkside under Simon Prestigiacomos’ outstretched arms as Lockyer closes in to tackle.

It is all over in a flash but break down all those individual elements and the sum of the parts are something special.

6. The left-foot torp

Adelaide is playing Fremantle in 2015 and Josh Jenkins handballs to Betts on the intersection of the boundary and 50m mark.

Betts is trapped with pursuers on his tail, officially out of options.

His response: a left-foot torpedo that lands in the goalsquare and bounces home.

Everyone else could have 100 attempts and not get close. He nails it on his only try.

Jason Dunstall is up and about in the special comments chair: “You are not entitled to kick that. I don’t care who you are, you are not entitled to kick that. A left-foot barrel from the boundary in the wet. He does it too often to be a fluke.”

He wins the 2015 goal of the year for his efforts.

7. 50 goals in a year

A red letter day for Carlton as Betts conjures his goal against Henry Slattery, Andrew Walker takes his mark of the year over Jake Carlisle and betts kicks a career-high eight goals.

He is in everything the night after Steven Milne kicked eight of his own goals, with Chris Judd hitting him up on leads and Betts outbodying Walker in marking contests then scrounging the ball at ground level.

It is a year in which he kicks 50.22 and the Blues march all the way to a semi-final as Betts kicks four goals in the elimination final – against arch enemy Essendon once again.

8. Adelaide’s greatest showman

Eddie Betts’ greatest goals only get better when you include in his celebrations in front of the Adelaide faithful.

Eddie Betts of the Adelaide Crows celebrates with the fans. Picture: Ben Macmahon

At breakneck pace he gathers the ball in 2014 against North Melbourne’s Aaron Mullett, roosting a 45m checkside goal on his right boot while skirting the boundary line.

He immediately turns to the Adelaide Oval fans as teammate Matthew Wright picks him up in wild celebrations. Scott Thompson joins the party as a kid frantically hangs over the boundary line attempting to simply touch the football god.

This is his football world and the rest of us are simply living in it.

9. Eddie’s special 40 minutes

In the space of 40 minutes in Round 2, 2012, Betts posterises two Brisbane rivals as well as his teammate Ed Curnow.

First he flies for an old-fashioned “speccy”, planting two knees into the back of James Polkinghorne then juggling the ball three times as he falls, only snaring it as he lands on his back.

Then quarter later he climbs over Ed Curnow and Cheynee Stiller as he topples over the pack, plunging to the ground headfirst as he keeps the ball in his clutches.

Betts has been nominated for 27 goal-of-the-year nominations but his marking efforts are nearly as spectacular.

Eddie Betts has claimed the Coates Hire Goal of the Year for the fourth time!#Brownlowpic.twitter.com/HBkkXC7bzM

— AFL (@AFL) September 23, 2019

10. His 2019 goal of the year against Gold Coast.

We have seen this movie before from Betts but it doesn’t make it any less glorious.

Betts judges a Rory Sloane drop-punt in flight as opponent Jarrod Harbrow gets a fist to it, looping it into the air. Betts doesn’t panic, never taking his eye off the ball and roving Harbrow’s spoil in an instant. From there it is like shelling peas, Betts pulling off a left-footed checkside from the boundary line 25 metres out. Taylor Walker was waiting inboard for the handball that never eventuated. Sorry Tex, not when Eddie has magic on his mind.

Originally published as Eddie Betts on retirement, his wizardry and what the future holds