Jonathan Brown’s retirement announcement could not have happened any other way
NOT A tear, not a sniffle, not a red eye. Could Jonathan Brown’s retirement announcement have happened any other way? It’s for more complicated footballers than Brown to wobble publicly in the emotion of stepping away from the sport that has been a life’s focus and be confronted by a life without it. The toughness and resilience with which Brown has lived his football career, despite a week of soul searching about whether he was capable of playing again, would not allow him to falter like other men. It’s just not in his make-up. Trying to find a word to describe Brown, who retired yesterday after 256 games for the Brisbane Lions and 594 goals, Leigh Matthews settled on “unique’’.
Loyalty was a big factor in Brown rejecting a second chance to join Collingwood for the 2009 season and also will be a reason why he will continue to work with the young Lions forwards Michael Close, Jackson Paine and Jonathan Freeman. “I want to be involved in the club going forward, probably not in a full-time basis, post 2014,’’ Brown said. “I can’t go cold turkey on the footy club and I’d like to be part of the ride that’s being created here. Hopefully there will be success not too far around the corner.’’