What I found interesting from the many Ben Cousins interviews on the weekend apart from the fact that everyone is too scared to mention the “Drugs” word is that he rattled off a few ex West Coast Players when mentioning his age and injury prone body.
What do these players have in common? Apart from being stars who played for the Eagles, none of these players played into their 30′s.
- Dean Kemp retired at 31
- John Worsfold retired at 30
- Phillip Matera retired at 30
- Guy McKenna retired at 31
- Glen Jakovich retired at 31
I am sure other non Victorian players can be added to this list like Voss etc. The following players also played in the same era (1990′s) but played well into their mid 30′s at a high standard:
- Craig Bradley,
- Mathew Richardson,
- Robert Harvey,
- James Hird &
- Nathan Buckley.
Want a Long Career? Play in Victoria
While not a house hold name Chad Morrison moved from West Coast to Collingwood and his reasoning was that he was struggling to get his body right after having to travel every second week. While Collingwood, Essendon and other big clubs complain about having to travel, they know that traveling across the country every second week takes years of your career.
I would bet that Judd will add two/ three years to his career at Carlton compared to playing out at the Eagles. He already looks a lot fresher this year compared to his previous Eagles years.
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April 1st, 2009 at 9:17 am
Travel could indeed be a factor, although if you look at the Crows, who also travel every 2nd week (granted, not as far), they have maybe the best ever conversion rate to the 300 club. Hart, Ricciuto, McLeod, and soon to be Edwards have made the magic number in the 18 year history of the club. When you add to that Bickley and Smart, who retired within 30 games of the milestone, that is an incredible record. Consider that Sydney/ South Melb have had none, Melbourne have had one, and even Collingwood has only produced 4 in over 100 years.
I think it comes down to luck with injuries, and sustained fitness levels.
April 1st, 2009 at 9:53 am
Thanks for your comment and input in regards to the Adelaide players who played well over 250 odd games.
I do think injury luck does play a lot but I imagine traveling to and from Adelaide is not as bad traveling to and from Perth. You have distance and also time zone differences, 30 minutes is not as much as two to three hours.
Adelaide to Melbourne is: 728km one way
Perth to Melbourne is: 3,430km one way
Melbourne to Brisbane is: 1,669km one way
Most Non-Victorian clubs play roughly in Melbourne 10 times a year:
Adelaide: 7,280km
Perth: 34,300km
Brisbane: 16,690km
Doing some rough rough calculations it takes roughly 4.5 Adelaide to Melbourne trips to equal one Perth to Melbourne trip.
April 1st, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Buckley, Richo & Bradley were from interstate, but two other things come to mind.
Maybe the Eagles players were loyal to the one club.
You have a 1 in 10 chance of playing in Victoria compared to other states.
April 1st, 2009 at 6:44 pm
I think Craig is on to something with his comment.
West Coast & Fremantle don’t want to get to old of a list so these players either have to retire or find another club. I think the players who are actually form WA would rather retire then maybe spend a couple of years playing for a club that is a long way away from there family.
The other thing with retiring earlier over in the west, that with only 2 clubs there is probably more chance of cashing in on your celebrity status then there is in the east. Maybe these players feel they can make more money by working for various papers/tv stations in WA, plus if they went to Vic to end their career and then tried to go back to WA for a post career Job they may be seen as sell outs.
April 2nd, 2009 at 11:57 am
Agree its harder to go to Melbourne etc as a 28-30 year old but the players I listed simply could not play any more. Its not that the Eagles or Fremantle did NOT want them, they did. Its that their bodies simply failed.
- Matera retired in the off season as he broke down in pre season training
- Kemp battled two years to play 10 games with injury
- McKenna battled back problems for 2-3 years
- Worsfold struggled for 3 years to recover from knee injuries