Steve Sziller.

[Rodan#18.]

It looks like he's retired doesn't it ? They didn't chair him off the ground for his outstanding game (although it wasn't too bad ).

Good luck 'dirty'...thanks for the service : (2001-2002)
Not the wost player to pull on the Yellow and Black.
That's for sure.



PS : with Campbo now on the veteran list...Huddo, Sziller and Knighter gone....let's see......... : we've got 33 players and 1 vet.

Room for 5.

 

[rfctigerarmy]

he got the chair of the ground..

 

[Rodan#18.]

it's official

Sziller ends career quietly
Jamie Shanahan
AFL Record
8:42:30 PM Tue 3 September, 2002



Steven Sziller’s AFL career ended last weekend in much the same way it began back in 1995, with no fuss, no fanfare, and little media attention. Exactly how he wanted it.

“I didn’t want anyone finding out,” he explained. “With all the big name players that have retired, I didn’t feel I was in their league, so I wanted to keep it quiet, and just go out and play my last game with no fuss.”


So as the 40,000-strong crowd at Telstra Stadium was feting Sydney’s Paul Kelly and Andrew Dunkley last Saturday night, only an astute observer would have noticed Sziller’s Richmond teammates quietly chairing him from the ground.

The decision to retire, says Sziller, followed a meeting with Richmond coach and former St. Kilda teammate Danny Frawley ten days earlier.

“I was struggling a bit, trying to keep up, and had played the last six or so in the two’s,” he said. “‘Spud’ said they were probably going to go with a younger list next year, and I was thinking the same way too, so we decided it was time for me to go out.”

Despite another ex-teammate, Stewart Loewe, hinting at a Sziller retirement last Thursday night on The Footy Show, most Richmond players didn’t know anything until after the team’s last training session on the Friday night before the game.

“Spud just had a bit of a chat out on the track, and said I was going to be finishing up,” Sziller revealed.
While he will finish out the season playing finals with the Tigers’ VFL affiliate Coburg, Sziller considers himself lucky to have bowed out of senior football the way he did.

“Spud said he wanted to play me up in Sydney, to give me one last game, so I was pretty happy with that,” he admitted.

Such modesty belies the fact that Steven Sziller has achieved enough to make many fellow players, and fans, turn green with envy. His 156 AFL games (118 with St Kilda and 38 with Richmond) included eight finals, one of which was the 1997 grand final (with St Kilda). There was also the 1996 pre-season premiership (again with the Saints), as well as a State of Origin game for South Australia in 1998.

Selected by St Kilda at pick No.25 in the 1994 national draft, after having played in successive grand finals with SANFL club Woodville-West Torrens, Sziller didn’t think much of his chances of success in the AFL. “It’s pretty scary at first, you see all these blokes playing on TV, and you rock up there thinking that you’re probably not good enough to make the side.”

It didn’t take long for Sziller to prove himself though, playing every game in his debut year, and earning a reputation as a tough-as-nails midfielder, who never took a backward step.

Six seasons later he would again face the daunting task of proving himself at a new club. While holidaying on the Gold Coast at the end of 2000, Sziller picked up a Melbourne newspaper to learn that he was to be delisted by the Saints, despite having been told weeks earlier that he was a required player.

“I went down to the club when I got back and what had been in the paper was true. It’s not the best way to find out. I was pretty disappointed, but I suppose after a couple of years of really struggling they had to do something.”

After nominating for the pre-season draft, Sziller recalled he “wasn’t getting too many calls”, until Frawley told him that Richmond was prepared to use its last pick on the then 27-year-old if he was keen to keep going. “I was rapt — I jumped at the chance.”

He admits to being pretty nervous during his initial weeks at Tigerland. “It was probably even harder (than starting at St Kilda), because you’ve played against a lot of the blokes, had a few run-ins, and you don’t know if they’re going to speak to you when you first roll in. But they were great.”

After eight years of senior AFL football, Sziller feels the time is right to move on. And his parting thoughts on the game probably best sum the man up.

“I won’t miss the meetings and video sessions, opposition analysis and all that stuff,” he said.

“You probably spend as much time in meetings now as you do training. I wouldn’t mind just playing locally, somewhere around where I live. Something a bit more relaxed, like where I started, two nights a week, and you can have a beer when you want one.”

Typical Steven Sziller. No fuss, no fanfare, and little media attention. Just the way he likes it.

 

[tigerman]

Thanks Dirty

Enjoy your retirement. No one could fault your work ethic.

You will always be remembered fondly by me for the job that you did on Camporeale last year in the finals. With out your efforts that day, the result could of gone the other way.

CARN THE TIGES!!!!

 

[TheFoxhat]

It was a bit sad but if he did'nt want a big sendoff then thats fine with us