Player Watch Boomer retires

[Power Raid]

well done boomer on a great career

 

[D-N-R]

I think North were right to not sign him for another year, although he should have had the opportunity to make the decision himself or at least announce it. He should have been told mid-season, had time to think about his future and then made the call himself.

That said, he has had a great career. Has a Premiership medal, plenty of other personal awards and the most game's played record. Played with and against some of the game's greats and finished his career still going strong.

 

[SloaneysDanger]

Champion of the game and future HOFamer. Pushed into retirement which is a shame. If he played at my club for 21 years and got sacked I would be pissed off for a long time.

Well done Boomer

 

[GroggSquad]

I could think of worse questions to have surrounding your end – 'why did he play that last year?' 'How did he ever get a game?'

It's a bit like a great TV show or a special band ending well before their time. You'd rather their history forever be 'how much longer could they have kept this going? When was the peak coming? What was next?' rather than questioning greed and if they're doing it for the wrong reasons. If I was the subject of pub talk around "far out, I reckon he should have played longer... he would have gotten to 450" I'd be happy with those lingering impressions.

Still, this bloke lived 21 years of the life.

He never had to worry about money. He never did something he hated. He stayed fit, worked four hours a day, and got the rewards of crowds and flags and medals and newspaper columns instead of $600 a week for 23 hours a week. The guy got lucky in life and no one should feel sad for a person who had it real, real good. Life could be much worse. I'm sure he had stress, sadness, and disappointment, and we all feel the burden of family and personal issues... but he never had the right to bitch about work.

Yeah i get where you're coming from, especially when it comes to great bands and TV shows that leave a special kind of legacy when they go out on top.

But this guy was the games record holder. I strongly doubt anyone will get to 432 games again, so he was the one man that was going to show the country how many games of AFL football it was physically possible to play.

The game loses something special now and we are worse off for it. I usually love seeing players go out on top, but Boomer is an exception to the rule. I truly believe his legacy would be untainted if he pushed himself to 477 games with nothing left in the tank and no unanswered questions.

 

[Gold Member]

There goes the last current player that is older than me. Now it's just a bunch of back chatting whipper snappers.

 

[noodle]

I'm a really big fan of players (of all sports) retiring before they become a shell of their former selfs. I've seen many players from my club, Matera, Jakovich, Mckeena, play on when they probably should have called it quits.
Boomer is not one of these. Anticlimactic end to a career that could have easily gone on another year.

 

[Frank Gallagher]

In terms of value he's probably the best of all time, 20 years or so of high quality football, absolute professional and a certain HOF legend.

 

[Asada Mao]

peeled off a 5th in the B&F as well in his final year too, not a bad effort for a bloke who was 38 years old. super career, the debate will linger whether you could have gone on for another year or two.

 

[base615]

Pushed into retirement.

I wonder if he wasnt pushed, would he have gone on next season with North.

Of course he would have, and he should have been allowed to as he was still one of the better players at North. Releasing him was in extremely poor form IMO.

 

[TheKanga]

Thanks for everything Boomer Legend
It will be hard to replicate the excitement of seeing Boomer bouncing the ball running into goal.

 

[TheKanga]

 

[Boomerfan99]

It's Boomer's hot wife. Infidel.

Pull your head in.

 

[gorilla92]

How could anybody possibly call this little staging midget a legend of the game?

 

[Sir James Sober]

[QUOTE="gorilla92, post: 47188306, member:

How could anybody possibly call this little staging midget a legend of the game?[/QUOTE]

He got a 50 for that if I recall. Was outraged at the time but it's funny on retrospect.

 

[00Stinger]

Lets be honest, he is only retiring because no other club was interested in him

Sent from my SM-P555 using Tapatalk

 

[Fire]

Yes he did, he did everything a half decent small forward should do, kick goals and set others up, but his two way running and tackling efforts were extremely poor this year.

Lol pathetic.

 

[Armchair Critic]

The scary part is he was still in Norths 5 best players. Absolute legend and one of my favourite non swans to watch

 

[Kangaroos4eva]

Lol pathetic.

What is?

He's never been a strong tackler in terms of repeat tackling efforts and he hasn't always put in those defensive running efforts required of a small half forward.

 

[drviccles]

Think he should have been allowed to retire on his own terms. All the best in retirement Boomer.

 

[DazalenkoUBewty]

Great career, Boomer! Congrats!

Now for the next phase in your life, and one of the the biggest decisions you'll have to make - which retirement village...

 

[PAFCsince1870]

How could anybody possibly call this little staging midget a legend of the game?

Must be school holidays over in WA.

 

[Boomerfan99]

How could anybody possibly call this little staging midget a legend of the game?

Same reason they call Ben Cousins a legend for all his foibles.

Show some respect you muppet.

 

[Bokonon]

More like he was retired. Deserved to go out on his own terms in my opinion. Was still capable of contributing at a high level. Cruel game at times.

It truly is
As for Tuck a player that lasts that long has to love the game. If they keep turning up sooner or later the club has to make a cruel decision.
The end shouldn't define him as a player though, and he's a great of the game without question. One club is admirable but players of his stature ultimately belong to the game in my view.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Sadly Boomer suffered a severe broken leg for North Heidelberg against Heidelberg today in Round 1 (the full tibia + fibula style break).

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/vflafl-games-record-holder-brent-harvey-suffers-horrific-broken-leg-playing-local-footy/news-story/2f383c1f7c29dc7381424d6c45358457

While you couldn’t put a line thru a marathon man like him, it will be a near 12 month recovery and unfortunately might be the end of him in footy boots.

I’m fairly sure his total senior game tally sits at 519 which is absolutely freaking ridiculous. There are few around that would’ve played that many.

North Melbourne 432
Victoria 2
Australia 11
North Heidelberg 74

I know people will chime in with comments about “local footy” etc etc, but the bloke is still playing NFNL Div 1, it’s the top tier of footy outside the VFL. Without AFL or VFL reserves any more this is the third tier of footy and he’s played seniors the whole time. It’s not like he’s been running around in some district bush league. It’s very good footy and absolutely remarkable that he’s played 519 games of senior footy, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s unmatched. I know Bradley played 500+.

 

[Slartibartfast]

Just fantastic for local footy having a guy like that playing and still so fit for his age.

Can you imagine the young players seeing Boomer across the change room and having his ear to lean on.