Collingwood’s Nick Maxwell retires
Collingwood’s 2010 premiership captain Nick Maxwell has announced his retirement from the AFL, after suffering a season-ending ankle injury last weekend.
The 31-year-old defender has played 208 games and was an All-Australian in 2009, leading his side to a flag the following season.
Maxwell captained the Magpies from 2007 to 2013 and has played 10 games this season under new skipper Scott Pendlebury.
Maxwell says physically he has nothing left but he loved battling to prove people wrong.
Maxwell entered the room for Wednesday’s media conference at the club’s headquarters at Olympic Park on crutches and was applauded by teammates.
He was flanked by coach Nathan Buckley, captain Scott Pendlebury and president Eddie McGuire.
“I just knew I had nothing left. Unfortunately my body has had enough so that’s it,” Maxwell said.
Maxwell said years of battling injuries had taken a heavy toll.
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“It’s almost impossible now to carry injuries,” Maxwell said.
“Having played through a lot of injuries, I just knew I had nothing left.”
Maxwell said breaking the news to his teammates was emotionally draining.
“I almost lost it at one stage. I kept it pretty brief,” he said.
Maxwell said he was motivated in the early part of his career by those who said he’d never make it to the top level.
“Early on I did, just wanting to prove people wrong and make a career out of AFL footy,” Maxwell said.
His announcement comes a day after St Kilda star Lenny Hayes announced he would retire at the end of the season.
West Coast captain Darren Glass and Brisbane great Jonathan Brown are other big names who have retired in the last few weeks.
Hayes, who announced yesterday he would retired at the end of the AFL season, is the ultimate footballer, according to his St Kilda skipper Nick Riewoldt.
Riewoldt says 34-year-old Hayes is the best player he’s played with or against.
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Riewoldt has won five club best-and-fairest awards and he’s tipping Hayes is on track for a fourth.
Grand-final teammates in 2009 and 2010, the two Saints’ warriors have been through many battles together.
“There’s just nothing that you would ask for different in a teammate,” Riewoldt said on Tuesday.
“He just ticks all the boxes. There has been no one that I’ve played with that’s been tougher, more skilful, a better team man.
“As a friend and off the field, he’s the nicest, best guy, most fiercely loyal that you would ever meet.
“Of all the people that I’ve met in the football, he’s the best person and he’s the best player as well.”
Hayes is averaging 24.9 possessions per game in 2014, and Riewoldt says it would have been nice to have the three-time All-Australian spearheading St Kilda’s midfield next season.
“He’s probably leading our best and fairest. He’s had a great year,” Riewoldt said.
“It would have been great to see him go again.
“But as an athlete you know your body better than anyone else.”
Riewoldt said his fondest memory of Hayes’s on-field exploits was his Norm Smith Medal-winning performance in the 2010 drawn grand final against Collingwood.
The skipper proudly wore an “I love Lenny” t-shirt at Hayes’s media conference.
“He’s pretty flat with the t-shirts and the fanfare. But that’s Lenny, the modesty of the man,” Riewoldt said.
“That just makes him even more attractive as a person and as a teammate and with general footy fans as well.
“How hard and tough and competitive he is, but really fair as well and just the modesty.
“He’s just the ultimate team player and everyone who follows football can recognise that and see that in a player and that’s why he’s universally loved.”
