Watson hangs up boots
Bombers star tells of hurt over supplements saga
ESSENDON champion Jobe Watson has announced he will retire at the end of the AFL season and is hoping to go out playing finals football.
The 32-year-old former captain says he realised he was struggling to keep up with the speed of the game when it used to be “slow” for him.
“I know that the time is up and I think the worst thing you can do is lie to yourself and try to convince yourself that it’s not, but deep down you know,” Watson said.
It draws the curtain on an illustrious — and controversyhit — career after 14 seasons and he is hoping he can now enjoy trying to ensure the eighth-placed Bombers play in the finals.
He will join one of the most illustrious retirement classes in recent memory with Luke Hodge, Sam Mitchell, Nick Riewoldt, Matt Priddis and Matthew Boyd all set to finish their careers this season.
Watson was one of 34 past and present Essendon players to serve a 12-month doping ban last year as a result of the club’s 2012 supplements program. He was also stripped of his 2012 Brownlow Medal, and the saga left him close to walking away from the game.
But he returned and has been in solid, if not spectacular form, despite being increasingly asked to rotate between the midfield and forward line.
He noticeably struggled in the Bombers’ win over Carlton on Saturday, finishing with only 11 disposals.
Watson acknowledged the supplements scandal and its aftermath had affected his feelings about the game.
“There’s probably just hurt associated with it and when you get inflicted like that, with that sort of pain, then invariably the way you feel about something changes,” he said.
“The (Brownlow) medal didn’t really matter to me, it wasn’t important.
“I think the people whose opinion I value and who know me the best, they haven’t changed because I had to hand back the Brownlow Medal.”