Graham Johncock retires

Sad to hear that Graham Johncock has retired from AFL footy this morning.

Certainly looked like his heart wasn't in it this year. A quality player, he will certainly be missed.

One of the last "spooks" on AFL fields. Those blokes who would spook you if you had the ball and he was nearby. Wrong guernsey   but enjoyed watching him play. For mine, could still be a damaging forward for Adelaide. More so than Callinan, thats for sure.

Hope he plays out the year with the Magpies.

Haha, great description of his playing style Booney.

Was an anchor point for the team during some pretty tough times as well, particularly late in the Ayres reign.

Great player for the AFC.

Wish a few more had his endeavour and smarts.

Best of luck Stiffy!

Great player?

Booney wrote:Great player?

A good player doesn't play over 200 games.

He has been a great player. Not a champion but undoubtedly a great player.

Adelaide - Michael Doughty 231
Brisbane - Tim Notting 208
Carlton - Lance Whitnall 217
Collingwood - Graham Wright 201
Essendon - Darren Bewick 238
Fremantle - Shane Parker 238
Melbourne - Russell Robertson 228
North Melbourne - Brady Rawlings 245
Richmond - Darren Gaspar 207
St Kilda - Aussie Jones 226

I'll leave it at that.

Please do Booney, and maybe go and look up the word respect in the dictionary.

Booney wrote:Adelaide - Michael Doughty 231
Brisbane - Tim Notting 208
Carlton - Lance Whitnall 217
Collingwood - Graham Wright 201
Essendon - Darren Bewick 238
Fremantle - Shane Parker 238
Melbourne - Russell Robertson 228
North Melbourne - Brady Rawlings 245
Richmond - Darren Gaspar 207
St Kilda - Aussie Jones 226

I'll leave it at that.

No Port players on that list I notice. Only quality pulls on the teal obviously.  

The only one I would have offered from Ports AFL list Ginge is Dom Cassisi and perhaps Lade and P.Burgoyne. Not sure I'd list Cassisi as one of our "greats", but on second thought he has been a AFL captain, premiership player etc.

The others are Chad and Kane Cornes, and Tredrea. All of them, IMO are indeed great players.

Not trying to diminish Johncock's career, just think the term "great" is used too easily.

Personally I would say that Dom, Lade, Peter Burgoyne and the others were all great players. To have the ability to play 10 years at the top level ensures you are a great player. Rather than diminish these players I appluade them.

This also goes for your entire list above Booney.

I would probably rate Johncock's career as somewhere between good and great.

He could be pretty proud of what he's achieved I reckon.

How many more years will Rutten and Thompson have now?

Perhaps 1 more season for Rutten..and another 2 for Thompson?

Rutten is 30 and Thompson is 29.

The 'gorilla' defenders seem to have all but disappeared from the game, and I think that means we might only have another season out of Rutten.

Thompson could still have a few good years ahead of him yet. He's been a very durable player and could add another dimension up forward when the pace of the midfield gets beyond him.

Looks Like Johncock was realistic about his situation this year:

"The way my body has been this year, I would not have picked myself," said Johncock yesterday as he closed his 227-game AFL career among the top 10 for matches played at the Crows.

"I strongly believe I would not have got through a game because of the injuries and the way my body feels. The body could not handle the rigours of playing AFL football any more. In the end, it wore me down."

In other words, he's had enough.

He was a very good player, but watching him play for the Crows this year it was obvious the game had gone past him. Played for frees and went to ground too often and couldn't keep up with the pacy small players he ended up on.

Hope he plays the year out with th Magpies, his class still works in the SANFL.