A huge amount of talent and characters will leave the game this year:

• Hodge
• Gibson
• Mitchell
• Johnson
• Murphy
• Priddis
• Reiwoldt
• Boyd
• Scott Thompson
• ...and a few more to come before EOS

I don't think there has been a year like this for retiring champions:  Brownlows, Norm Smith medals and Premierships galore! A decade or two of captaincy.  Great on field Generals.  And, if I counted them close to 2,500 games! 

Some played fairer than others but they have been the elite of their generation.  While from opp teams their skills have been great to watch (I often looked on with envy...)

I'm not sure who the next generation of elite players will be - hopefully a few from the Demons!

In the meantime, I thought it worth acknowledging the impact and contributions of these champs. 

They have provided a pretty good show!  

 

Edit:  Feel free to add others in your posts.

Watson? 

 

...my tongue is firmly in my cheek...

1 minute ago, Deemented Are Go! said:

Watson? 

 

...my tongue is firmly in my cheek...

Of course!  I knew there was someone else...a freudian slip perhaps

Should I go back and add him......nah, your post is enough to note he is leaving the game. 

3 minutes ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

Of course!  I knew there was someone else...a freudian slip perhaps

Should I go back and add him......nah, your post is enough to note he is leaving the game. 

Yeah, that'll do. I figured you'd just left him off for reasoned sentiments shared by many one here!

4 minutes ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

Of course!  I knew there was someone else...a freudian slip perhaps

Should I go back and add him......nah, your post is enough to note he is leaving the game. 

Scott Thompson as well LH,

Umm,

Jesse White?

2 minutes ago, DavidNeitz9 said:

Scott Thompson as well LH,

Thanks, he deserves to be added especially as he is an honourary Demon.

9 minutes ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

Thanks, he deserves to be added especially as he is an honourary Demon.

Matt Boyd was a star as well, recruited as a rookie listed player, 291 games, 3 All Australians, 3 B&F and a flag

Just realised you already had him listed.

Lumumba...or did you count him last year?

And the list may yet still add a handy player in Ablett.

The 2007 list is pretty good, too: Buckley, M Voss, Ricciuto, Hird, Koutoufides, Chris Grant, Chris Scott, Archer, Chris Johnson (Bris), Luke Darcy and probably others I've now forgotten.

Dennis Armfield.....

6 minutes ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Lumumba...or did you count him last year?

And the list may yet still add a handy player in Ablett.

The 2007 list is pretty good, too: Buckley, M Voss, Ricciuto, Hird, Koutoufides, Chris Grant, Chris Scott, Archer, Chris Johnson (Bris), Luke Darcy and probably others I've now forgotten.

Byron Pickett, Nathan Brown, Clint Bizzell, & Simon Godfrey

27 minutes ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

Thanks, he deserves to be added especially as he is an honourary Demon.

Scott Thompson is a traitor that wanted to go home to mummy. Should never be included as an honorary Demon. Completely f****D us over - particularly when we nurtured him through a lot of injuries.

I for one am glad that this crop of players is leaving the game. Makes me sick that we haven't had any elite players for a decade (Neitz excluded). I fully expect some our current talent to get there.

34 minutes ago, stevethemanjordan said:

Umm,

Jesse White?

Perhaps the one I will miss the most.

4 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

Scott Thompson is a traitor that wanted to go home to mummy. Should never be included as an honorary Demon. Completely f****D us over - particularly when we nurtured him through a lot of injuries.

I for one am glad that this crop of players is leaving the game. Makes me sick that we haven't had any elite players for a decade (Neitz excluded). I fully expect some our current talent to get there.

I can understand a player wanting to go back to their home state to be closer to family, we got Jeff White under similar circumstances

Colin Garland is a champion of our club.

he'll do his lap of honour and I will Be there watching Melbourne

Vince should join them,  with Lewis in the team and Jones in the last 3 to 5 years we don't need his experience,  a player with his experience he turns it over too much.

20 hours ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Lumumba...or did you count him last year?

And the list may yet still add a handy player in Ablett.

The 2007 list is pretty good, too: Buckley, M Voss, Ricciuto, Hird, Koutoufides, Chris Grant, Chris Scott, Archer, Chris Johnson (Bris), Luke Darcy and probably others I've now forgotten.

Yes, 2007 was also very good.

Here is a comparison of 2007 vs 2017 Retiring Champs.  http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-08-15/retirement-class-of-07-v-retirement-class-of-17

2017 just ahead by the look of it.

 

How good is it that these guys are not even considered to be on the list?

There was a time (not so long ago) when every single delisted or retiring player was considered as a 'prop up'

Btw, all the best to these retiring players

faaarrrk I head that moron Robbo eulogising Jobe (again) saying that he would go into the Hall of Fame perhaps not this year but next year. 

He is a convicted drug cheat you idiot! Let alone never won a flag or a Brownlow or a Norm Smith etc etc. How Robbo maintains a job is beyond me.

19 hours ago, Wrecker45 said:

Colin Garland is a champion of our club.

he'll do his lap of honour and I will Be there watching Melbourne

Not sure if this is tongue in cheek but I'll bite. Col Garland has a contract till the end of next year. Can't really see him retiring since he did not retire/move clubs where he wasn't getting any game. 

1 hour ago, Deefiant said:

Not sure if this is tongue in cheek but I'll bite. Col Garland has a contract till the end of next year. Can't really see him retiring since he did not retire/move clubs where he wasn't getting any game. 

I love Garland and don't want to see him be relegated to the reserves for the rest of his career. They've given him a coaching spot and will give him a more senior position the year after.

He is cooked, let's watch him turn into a strategically brilliant (assistant) coach. He has attention to detail is spades and has played under about 5 coaches. His footy career suffered from it, but in a strange way it will help his coaching career.

@Deefiant I would love nothing more than for Garland to go around agin and play senior games. I just can't  see it happening.

2 hours ago, jnrmac said:

faaarrrk I head that moron Robbo eulogising Jobe (again) saying that he would go into the Hall of Fame perhaps not this year but next year. 

He is a convicted drug cheat you idiot! Let alone never won a flag or a Brownlow or a Norm Smith etc etc. How Robbo maintains a job is beyond me.

What the heck is he talking about? Don't you need to be 5 years removed or something like that?

2 minutes ago, layzie said:

What the heck is he talking about? Don't you need to be 5 years removed or something like that?

I thought that as well...

Just now, jnrmac said:

I thought that as well...

He does spout some serious nonsense on a daily basis but that one really takes the cake!

Who? Don't know who half these players are