One-Eyed Richmond Forum
Football => Richmond Rant => Topic started by: Tiger Spirit on August 09, 2005, 02:27:55 PM
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Cambo calls it a day . . .
2:10:49 PM Tue 9 August, 2005
richmondfc.com.au
Four-time Jack Dyer Medallist and former Richmond captain Wayne Campbell today announced his retirement from AFL football, effective at the end of the season.
Campbell informed the Tigers’ playing group of his decision at a special meeting in the Club’s GR Room this morning.
The 32-year-old said that he had loved every minute of his 15-year league football journey, but the time was right for him to hang up his boots.
Not even the lure of becoming just the fourth player in Richmond’s proud history to reach the 300-game milestone (along with Francis Bourke, Jack Dyer and Kevin Bartlett) was enough to convince Campbell to saddle up for a 16th season in 2006.
Richmond president Clinton Casey praised the commitment and loyalty displayed by Campbell throughout his league career at Tigerland.
“Wayne’s list of football achievements clearly has him right up there as one of the Tigers’ all-time greats. But it’s not only those individual efforts that have made him such a stand-out at the Club,” Casey said.
“Throughout his career, Wayne has displayed outstanding leadership, and given his all to the Yellow and Black cause.
“On behalf of everyone at Richmond, I thank him for everything he has done for the Club, and wish him the very best in his future endeavors.”
Wayne Campbell Fact File
Age: 32 (turns 33 on September 23)
Height: 189cm
Weight: 88kg
Recruited from: Golden Square (1989 AFL National Draft third round selection, No. 29 overall)
AFL debut: 1991
Games played: 294 (including six finals)
Goals: 170
Guernsey numbers at Richmond: No. 46 (in his debut season), No. 17 (in 2004), and No. 9 (throughout the rest of his career)
Honors: Four-time Jack Dyer Medallist (1995, 1997, 1999, 2002); runner-up in Best and Fairest three times (1992, 1993, 2001), and third in Best and Fairest once (1998); dual All-Australian representative (1995, 1999); three-time International Rules Series representative for Australia (1998, 1999, 2000); Richmond captain 2001-04.
Fourth on Richmond’s all-time games record list behind Francis Bourke (300), Jack Dyer (312) and Kevin Bartlett (403).
Only Kevin Bartlett (five times) and Jack Dyer (six times) have won more Richmond Best and Fairests than ‘Cambo’.
One of only 10 players in the Club’s history to play more than 250 games.
Played under seven coaches throughout his league career at Richmond – Kevin Bartlett, Allan Jeans, John Northey, Robert Walls, Jeff Gieschen, Danny Frawley and Terry Wallace.
Has played every game in his final season of league football.
Holds the AFL record for the most games of any player in the competition’s history in the No. 9 guernsey (263 games).
Since 1993, has averaged just over 23 possessions per game.
http://richmondfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=221270
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:bow :bow :bow :bow
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Good on him. Did the right thing for himself and the club.
Very good player. One of the shining lights over the last 20 or so years.
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Good man. 15 years of seeing the team get bent over is enough.
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:bow :bow
Well done Cambo.
Congrats on a making a decision and sticking to it :cheers would have been so easy to continue. Put the Club first again
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Glad to see him go out on his own terms and after a year in which he played every game. Farewell Cambo, you made the right call for yourself and the Club and will be remembered fondly for being a rare bright spot in the 90s and early 00s :bow.
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would have been good 2 c him reach 300, but i guess this shows the true character of teh man who put the team and its future ahead of hmself and a chance 2 reach 300. personally i would have played on but if he feels he has had enough as he says this week should be his last game and make it his send off, maybe that could lift the team to victory!.
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I will miss him, its just a shame he isnt 15 years younger and entering what is an exciting time.
Sad when you think that Cambo wont get the finals taste he deserved.
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Retirement for Campbell
4:52:13 PM Tue 9 August, 2005
Scott Spits
Sportal for afl.com.au
Richmond veteran Wayne Campbell announced his retirement from the AFL on Tuesday, effective at the end of the season. Somewhat sadly, his magnificent career has coincided with the club's most unsuccessful era.
It's not unusual for AFL champions to leave the game without premiership success, but the 294-game veteran won't let any regrets or near-misses linger in his mind. Campbell was typically honest in his assessment of why the time was right to hang up the boots.
"I'm retiring basically because I've had enough. I've had enough of playing. I've played 15 years and lived and breathed it and loved every single minute of it and I'm not sure anything I do in the next 40 others - other than probably get married and have children - will be as exciting as what the last 15 years have been," Campbell told a packed media conference at Punt Road Oval on Tuesday.
With four best-and-fairest awards to his name, Campbell's status as a Richmond champion is unquestioned. But the 32-year-old is almost certain to finish just short of the magical 300-game AFL milestone.
Not even the lure of becoming just the fourth player in Richmond’s proud history to reach the milestone (along with Kevin Bartlett, Jack Dyer and Francis Bourke) was enough to convince Campbell to continue for a 16th season in 2006.
Instead, the midfielder has decided to continue with a plan of embarking on a 12-month world trip after getting married at the end of the season. Campbell says at this point in his life he's not upset about falling short of the milestone.
"In 15 years I may be. As a Richmond supporter when I was young and someone who loves the history, I think there's something good that Bourke, Dyer and Bartlett are the three players who head up the games list," Campbell said.
"If I play 303, am I a better player than Francis Bourke? I don't think so. I don't think it really matters that much.
"If 300 had have happened this year, it would have been great. I would have loved it."
Campbell was skipper of the Tigers for four seasons before giving up the reins at the end of 2004. While describing the captaincy as his 'biggest honour', Campbell admits 2005 was almost the year 'he had to have'.
"The captaincy as an individual thing was the biggest honour that I've had in footy but I needed to have a year where I just relaxed a little bit and enjoyed my footy," he reflected.
"(But) I didn't think I needed to extend that into a second year. I saw that this year was the right way to go out. Better to go one year too early than one year too late."
Despite being a loyal Richmond servant, Campbell went very close to leaving the Tigers at one stage. He says he has no regrets about the events that transpired.
"Three months later I was awarded life membership and I remember saying 'whoever caused it not to happen, thank you very much' because it was the best thing that ever happened to me," Campbell said.
"I was glad. I reckoned I needed to do it. Just to make a stand. Kevin Sheedy told me about three or four years after that that it was the first time Richmond had taken a good look at themselves for about 15 years. As a past Richmond champion, I took that as a vote of confidence. I was happy that I did it."
Richmond has infamously fallen just short of playing the finals several times in his career. Understandably, those near misses have provided Campbell with some of his lowest moments.
He cites the critical loss to Carlton two weeks ago as one of those, along with the one-point loss to the Sydney Swans in round 21, 2000.
Conversely, winning games and sharing that joy with close teammates has provided him with some gloriously happy moments.
"To win at the MCG on a Saturday is as good as it gets. To win a final - I remember after we beat Carlton in 2001, we were driving to recovery and I rang Matthew (Richardson) and we spoke for 30 seconds and said 'how good's this'. It's the best feeling I've had out of footy.
"It's hard to explain unless you've actually played. To win a game is good. To win a final is just extraordinary.
"To win a grand final - I have no idea what it would be like."
Campbell has reportedly experienced a topsy-turvy relationship with Richmond supporters over the past 15 years.
"I'm constantly told that they don't like me, but I went to a function last night and there were about 1000 people there and I was extremely humbled by the words that they said," he reflected.
"Two of the times when I was most unpopular with them was when I was made captain which was the biggest honour of my career and, secondly, when I tried to leave the club. As I've just explained, I would do that again.
"Popularity is not high on my agenda. The players that I've played with I think respect me and like me. I think I've got as good a relationship with them as I could. I'll take that out of everything I've done."
Fascinatingly, Campbell has played under seven coaches at Tigerland - Kevin Bartlett, Allan Jeans, John Northey, Robert Walls, Jeff Gieschen, Danny Frawley and now Terry Wallace. Looking at Campbell's career provides a modern day Tigers history lesson.
He freely admits he has experienced contrasting relationships with the men in charge of the playing group. However, he is proud to say that those sometimes-strained relationships never affected his performance.
"I was pretty proud to be able to play well under all those coaches. I think it's a bit of a cop-out to say 'the coach doesn't like me - therefore I'm not playing well'.
One of the biggest influences on Campbell's career was his mother who was loyal to the end. She deserves the final words.
"She's lived in Bendigo and now in Lakes Entrance. I think out of the 290-odd games, I don't think she would have missed too many," Campbell said.
"She rings me every night before the game … she says 'good luck'. That's part of her pre-game routine. I spoke to her and she said 'thank god, I've had enough!'."
http://richmondfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=221373
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Cambo could have gone on: Wallace
3:17:50 PM Tue 9 August, 2005
Jen Witham
Sportal for afl.com.au
Richmond coach Terry Wallace believes former skipper Wayne Campbell could have played into 2006 despite the veteran's announcement of his retirement on Tuesday.
Campbell will play out the rest of the season before hanging up his boots at the age of 32 – just three games short of reaching the 300-game milestone.
"His efforts this year, he's played every single game, really had him in a position where we would like him to go on, but it was his choice whether he wanted to do so or not," Wallace said on Tuesday.
"The manner in which he's played this season, taking on a different role, no one likes coming off the interchange bench and playing that sort of role, but he's handled it extremely well, and I think he's had a fantastic year."
Wallace went through the extensive list of Campbell's achievements, which include 294 games, six finals, 170 goals, and an average of 23 possessions per game since 1993.
"(He's the) fourth highest games player for the Richmond football club, I think that speaks for itself, certainly when you have a look at the names Francis Bourke, Jack Dyer, and Kevin Bartlett being the other three," Wallace said.
"Four best and fairests, but I actually go even further than the four best and fairests. Eight times in the top three in the best and fairests at this football club is just a testament to just how consistent a player he's been along the way."
Wallace noted that Campbell had been a 'one-club player' and that playing in less successful sides is much harder than playing for consistently strong ones.
"Don't get lost in the fact that it is much much more difficult to play in sides that are not successful, in sides that have got instability along the way," Wallace said.
"I think that just speaks volumes for him."
Campbell indicated that after a year away from football in 2006, he would consider an involvement in the game, and expressed an interest in remaining at Richmond.
"We'll speak in the next couple of weeks about just exactly what Wayne wants to do, his involvement with the Richmond footy club onward, in whatever capacity that may be, what's best for him to move on," Wallace said.
"A lot of times it's better to actually go outside the club that you've been involved in for 15 years just to see the broader range of things, but a lot of those things are just determined by circumstance at the time and where Wayne is and what he wants to do."
Wallace also didn't rule out the possibility of the club talking to a few other senior players about their futures as the season draws to a close.
"We've got 21 players under 21 years of age, so we have a really young squad going around," Wallace said.
"We're looking firmly to the future, and that's the development of those young boys, but they still need help. They need assistance, and some leaders and men around them to be able to do the job, so it's just a balancing act.
"Of course there will be some spoken to, and we'll have chats to some, that's just the nature of this time of the year."
http://richmondfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=221397
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Campbell scans new horizons
4:29:32 PM Tue 9 August, 2005
Scott Spits
Sportal for afl.com.au
Wayne Campbell is unsure what career path he'll follow after his retirement as an AFL player, admitting a move into coaching or administration were both possibilities.
The 294-game Richmond veteran announced his retirement on Tuesday - effective at the end of the season - and will embark on a year-long trip around the world after getting married at the end of the season.
Campbell will return to Melbourne for 2007 admitting he will be in the unusual position of not knowing what he'll be doing that year.
"As we touch back into Tullamarine, I'll start to get really scared and it will be the first time that I won't know what I'm going to do for about 15 years. I'll take that when it comes," Campbell said at Punt Road on Tuesday, where he announced his retirement to a packed media conference.
However, Richmond coach Terry Wallace would like to sit down with Campbell soon and discuss his future.
"We'll speak in the next couple of weeks about just exactly Wayne wants to do, his involvement with the Richmond Footy Club onward, in whatever capacity that may be," Wallace said.
"A lot of times it's better to actually go outside of the club that you've been involved with for 15 years, just to see the broader range of things.
"Having been such a great servant of the footy club, I think the exit plans that are put in place by clubs need to be really strong and so we need to give him every bit of support for the future."
Campbell told the assembled media he believes he has some idea about how football clubs should operate.
"I think I could coach as well, I'm not sure whether I could. I want to go away for 12 months and not even think about it and then when I get back, I'm sure I'll be very scared about what I'm going to do."
http://richmondfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=221381
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Tigers in good hands: Campbell
4:24:00 PM Tue 9 August, 2005
Jen Witham
Sportal for afl.com.au
Wayne Campbell is confident he is leaving the Tigers in good hands, and that the side is headed for success in the wake of his retirement on Tuesday.
"The future looks rosy. If we win the grand final next year I'll be the first one there to clap and applaud them, but there might be something deep in my stomach that says - 'Gee, what if? What if?'," Campbell said.
"Having said that, I'd have to do five months of pre-season training, I'd have to swim in that pool, I'd have to lift weights, I'd have to do boxing, which I absolutely despise.
"I'd have to play 22 games. We'd probably win 15 of them, that means seven times you're going to lose. That means seven times I'm going to be disappointed and dejected and all that sort of stuff.
"I think I've just had enough of that. I need to get back on more of a level playing field and not having the rollercoaster of emotion that footy provides, which is absolutely brilliant, but at some stage you've got to move on."
Campbell spoke of the problems that had plagued Richmond since the mid-90's, and of how optimistic he is.
"'95 at the end was a little bit different in that we changed coaches. I think we thought that Robert Walls was going to bring us something that John Northey hadn't, or something like that," Campbell said.
"That was typical of the old Richmond, just when things were starting to go OK, that it turned ugly. 2000 we had a great season, we had injuries and didn't get across the line, at the end of 2001, we were heading in the right direction.
"I think it's the first time where there is good off-field and good on-field at the same time. We haven't been able to keep those together for a long enough period of time over the last 20 years.
"But I think that the footy club is in really good shape in both of those aspects."
http://richmondfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=221396
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Humble Campbell departs without fanfare (The Age)
By Greg Baum
August 10, 2005
theage.com.au
If, as is possible, Wayne Campbell finishes on 299 games, it will tell the tale of his career. It will say that he was good enough to last, that he was somehow different and that something was missing: success for one, the unconditional favour of the fans for another. He acknowledges it.
Not that Campbell will need a figure to speak for him. He was and remains until season's end original in his thoughts and lucid in expressing them. This also sets him apart from the platitudinous multitude, and casts him as a suspicious figure among those who can't spell "suspicious". He will make no apology.
Yesterday's announcement of his imminent retirement typified him. "I'm retiring basically because I've just had enough," he said. Even if he had wanted to go on, he could not have summoned the will to face the pre-season tyranny of pool, gym, track and especially boxing.
Besides, if he had gone on and the Tigers had had success, there would still be seven or eight defeats next season, and their inevitable corollary, glum evenings of asking himself: "What's the use?" He was about to turn 33. He needed more evenness in his life.
Campbell volunteered that Richmond in his time had been "spectacularly unsuccessful". He said he had looked for meaning in this, but found none, not yet. He remembered the false dawns, but said this start under Terry Wallace felt real and sustainable.
But he would not change anything about his own experience, he said. Regret would not win him a retrospective premiership.
The ambiguity of fans seems unfair on a man who has stayed so long and given so much. But the bond between a football club and its followers is necessarily and gloriously illogical. Campbell acknowledged the reality of his qualified standing. He suspected it had two sources: his decision to ask to be traded in 1998, and his appointment as captain in 2001, succeeding the popular Matthew Knights.
Again, he said he regretted neither. Kevin Sheedy had told him that his transfer request had forced Richmond to take an honest look at itself for the first time in 15 years. As for the captaincy, he regarded it as the greatest personal honour of his career, greater even than his four best-and-fairests.
He had been gratified by the warmth of the fans at a 1000-head function on Monday evening. But he had never been a populist anyway, he said. He had sought only the respect of his peers.
Getting a fix on Campbell's place in Richmond history is not easy, for him or others. He will lie fourth on Richmond's list of long-servers, behind Kevin Bartlett, Jack Dyer and Francis Bourke, but said it was an narrow measure. "If I play 303 (games), am I a better player than Francis Bourke?" he asked. "(I) Don't think so."
He had grown up a Richmond supporter, revering the club's greats, and even now thought his name looked incongruous among them, like Smith next to Koutoufides. But it is, and that will be his lasting tribute.
Campbell's fate, like Shane Crawford's at Hawthorn, has been to be a good player in a generally bad time. Inescapably, some blame attaches, as it does to Matthew Richardson, and Knights, and Daffy and Gaspar and Gale and the rest of the unfulfilled.
But Campbell was not cut out to be a saviour. He did not take football games by the scruff, as did contemporaries Buckley and Hird. He did not quite have their skills, nor their sixth sense. What he did was to give his all in every game, until he was red in the face, and no matter what the scoreboard said.
Campbell said how much easier it was to run when your team was five goals in front than when it was five goals behind, and when it had won 15 games for the season rather than five. Wallace said the most difficult thing in football was to play consistently well in a regularly beaten team. He said the measure of Campbell should not be his four best-and-fairests, but that he had finished in the top three eight times.
Campbell said he would miss the blokey camaraderie. "I don't know if I can use the word 'love'," he said. "I guess I can."
He would miss "the magic of being a league footballer". There were 10,000 former players, but only 600 active. He had made that point to his teammates yesterday, as if to say: cherish it, it passes. He would miss winning at the MCG on a Saturday afternoon, and the rush it gave him. The best was the victory over Carlton in a semi-final in 2001. But he would also remember a series of last-round defeats that cost the Tigers finals football.
Immediately, he will get married and travel overseas, both long fixed on his agenda. The 40 years thereafter were blank at the moment. He imagined he could coach, but ¡ª oddly for an ex-player ¡ª said he was also interested in administration. He had, he said, ideas about how a football club should be run. He ought to know how it should not be run.
Life's rhythms now change for Campbell, and friends and family. Campbell's mother, a lone parent since he was 12, had missed few games and rang him before everyone, so predictably that he admitted with a slight blush he sometimes let the phone ring out. But when he rang to say he was quitting, she replied: "Thank God, I've had enough!"
So Campbell goes, with many accolades, but not a single false air.
THE CAMPBELL FILE
Age:
Debut: 1991
Games: 294 (six finals)
Goals: 170
Fourth in games played for Richmond behind Francis Bourke, Jack Dyer and Kevin Bartlett.
Four-time Jack Dyer Medallist. Only Bartlett (five times) and Dyer (six times) have won more awards
Eight times top-three in the B & F
Captain 2001-04
All-Australian 1995, 1999
Played under seven coaches
Since 1993 has averaged more than 23 possessions a game
Wayne Campbell 33 next month
http://theage.com.au/realfooty/news/afl/humble-campbell-departs-without-fanfare/2005/08/09/1123353319784.html
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Tiger supporters never really took to Cambo for the reasons he says until 2003 when he had that awesome first 8 rounds before copping the calf then achilles injuries that prevented him from playing anywhere near his peak again.
Sad in a way that just when our supporters started to become fond of him soft tissue injuries cut him down :(.
Campbell spoke of the problems that had plagued Richmond since the mid-90's, and of how optimistic he is.
"'95 at the end was a little bit different in that we changed coaches. I think we thought that Robert Walls was going to bring us something that John Northey hadn't, or something like that," Campbell said.
"That was typical of the old Richmond, just when things were starting to go OK, that it turned ugly.
Says alot about how issues were dealt with within the Club over the past two decades when even the reigning best & fairest of that year 10 years later still doesn't have a clue why it or what happened :-\.
"I think it's the first time where there is good off-field and good on-field at the same time. We haven't been able to keep those together for a long enough period of time over the last 20 years.
"But I think that the footy club is in really good shape in both of those aspects."
2004 IMO will be viewed in 5 years time as the best thing to happen to the club. We needed to hit rock bottom and go through all that mess and election bickering for the Club in all areas to finally move into the 21st century. Weeded out a few egos who thought the Club was their personal plaything in the process :thumbsup.
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Yep definably one of the Richmond greats - just a shame for him and me (Richmond supporters) in general we have been down for so long. Some players in the mould of Campbell (loyal,great) (Robbie Flower) miss out on why they ultimately all play footy and that is very sad. Just hope WHEN we win a flag or have a chance at winning one all the players are aware of the significance of what they are about to do/achieve.
Goodluck Cambo :thumbsup
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Tiger's earned legend status
10 August 2005 Herald Sun
Mark Robinson
FIRST saw Wayne Campbell play football as a 17-year-old.
It was for Golden Square against South Bendigo in the Bendigo Football League grand final in 1989.
This audacious kid displayed traits that would stay with him for the next 16 years. He looked robotic, but confident, and he oozed balance.
By quarter-time that day, he had kicked four of his team's eight goals on the way to winning the Bill Nalder medal for best on ground.
His opponent -- I think it was a country football star named Peter Hinck -- was stunned. He was about 30 and Campbell was a tick over half his age.
At 17, and with an AFL career beckoning, Campbell had won his first senior premiership. Yesterday, a month shy of his 33rd birthday, he still has one flag to his name.
He says it doesn't grate on him, that he wouldn't change a thing, but Campbell's pedigree as a combative, professional footballer probably won't fully allow him to be satisfied with what is a wonderful career.
"Over 15 years, we've been spectacularly unsuccessful, and I've tried to find meaning in that lack of success," he said. "I haven't yet found it, but I wouldn't change a thing. It's been absolutely brilliant."
Contrary to some belief, Campbell is a Tigers legend.
His record demands the accolade. Four best-and-fairests, eight times in the top three, 294 games, All-Australian, captain, leader, example setter.
The last two are the intangibles, something former teammate and great mate Nick Daffy touched on yesterday.
"The best thing I ever did was latch on to him because it helped me. That's the thing about hanging out with the right people," Daffy said.
Campbell is unique in many ways, from the way he relaxes on the field, standing with both feet together, to the way he talks, with a quick wit and, when footy allows, a cold beer.
His teammates say he's funny. Others say he's a deep thinker, passionate and, sometimes, intense.
They talk about James Hird's brain and Lance Whitnall's, and Aker's, but Campbell deserves equal billing.
He will not be remembered as a great mark, or kick, nor did he portray an obvious hatred for the opposition, a la Michael Voss or Glenn Archer. He wasn't a tearaway speedster, nor the type to rove from the middle, bounce, bounce and goal from 55m.
What Campbell had was the ability to find the ball. He could link, he could find it in packs, and could find it wide. His hands were quick, his mind quicker. He averaged 23 possessions a game from 1993, which makes him elite.
His coaches would have loved his consistency. He had seven and there wouldn't be too many games in which he let any of them down.
At times, he played as though the sport was about yards gained. He'd dribble the ball forward from congestion, just rush it out of the area, and for that Tigers supporters loved and hated him.
One week, they'd bemoan that he didn't hurt the opposition. A week later, when he'd accumulated 29 touches against Collingwood in pouring rain and they won by eight points, they'd give him three cheers. It's the Tigers' way.
Strangely, you wonder if Campbell ever won the fans over. "I'm constantly told they don't like me, but I went to a function last night and there was about 1000 people there and I was extremely humbled by the words they said," he said.
"(But) popularity is not high on my agenda. The players I played with I think respect me and like me, and I will take that out of everything I've done."
Campbell is a traditional football person. He barracked for the Tigers as a kid, and on the day of his retirement, admitted he couldn't fathom that after Round 22 he will sit behind only Kevin Bartlett, Jack Dyer and Francis Bourke in games played.
Just once, he tried to leave the club, but it fell through, and thankfully so, he says.
"Kevin Sheedy told me three or four years after that that he thought it was the first time Richmond had taken a good look at themselves for about 15 years, so I took that as vote of confidence," he said.
Campbell's journey, like all of them, is a terrific one.
He grew up in Ouyen before moving to Bendigo as an early teen when his parents, John and Margaret, divorced.
His two bothers, Peter and David, were footballers and when they left home it was mum who kicked the footy back. Mum saw most of her son's 294 games, and her pre-match ritual was a phone call on the eve of the game.
"She's been awesome, she rings me every night before the game. I know the phone call's coming and sometimes I let it go, which is probably pretty rude, but anyhow," Campbell said, laughing.
"I spoke to her and she said, 'Thank God, I've had enough'. I think the Carlton game tore her apart as well."
In two weeks, Campbell will pass into footy folklore. One of 10,000 former players, as he put it.
He probably will be remembered as being a good player in a bad team, when really he was better than that.
Is there a word a fraction shy of great?
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,16209748%255E19742,00.html
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something tells me he wants to play on and just making up excuses , my gut feeling is his fiance has put the pressure on him
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Well they have been engaged forever and a day.
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Do it for Cambo, urges Richo
11:43:55 AM Wed 10 August, 2005
Paul Gough
Sportal for afl.com.au
Matthew Richardson believes Wayne Campbell deserves to end his career by playing in another finals series saying the former skipper's retirement has given Richmond added incentive for the rest of the home and away season.
Campbell announced his retirement - effective at season's end - on Monday and if the Tigers don't make the finals he will finish is career just short of the 300 game milestone on 297 games.
But Richardson said Campbell, who has played in just two finals series since joining the Tigers in 1991, deserved to finish his long career on a high note by having one last taste of the elusive September action.
"It gives us something to really strive for to send him off with another finals series,' Richardson said of Campbell.
"That really would be a good way for him to finish his career."
The Tigers are one game outside the top eight with three rounds remaining but despite eight losses in their past 10 games their finals destiny remains in their own hands and they will make the finals provided they win their last three games against the Bulldogs, Hawthorn and Geelong.
Richardson, speaking exclusively to afl.com.au, said Campbell's presence would be missed not just out on the field but around the club where he has been the heart and soul of Punt Road for more than a decade.
The pair has been teammates since 1993 with Richardson's career beginning two years after Campbell's and next season the big forward will take over the mantle as the club's longest serving player.
"We'll obviously miss him out on the field but that is only two hours a week," Richardson said.
"It's the other 30 odd hours you spend together at the club where we miss him, at training and things like having lunch together on a day off."
Campbell will take next year off where he will head overseas after he marries fiancée Sarah at the end of the year but is expected to take up a coaching or administrative role in football once he returns.
Richardson said Campbell deserved to be remembered as one of the Richmond greats.
"The thing I most admire about him is his durability," Richardson said of Campbell.
"To be able to go out there and just keep performing year after year takes something special."
That is best summed up by the fact Campbell will finish his career fourth on Richmond's all time games list with the three names above him - Kevin Bartlett, Jack Dyer and Francis Bourke - being arguably the three most revered names in the club's history.
http://richmondfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=221500
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Wayne Campbell a true Tiger champion
12:04:08 PM Thu 11 August, 2005
Richmond coach Terry Wallace
richmondfc.com.au
This has been a huge week in the history of the Richmond Football Club.
Last Friday, over in Perth, I met with Wayne Campbell to determine what his plans were for next season.
About mid-year, I had told him that I thought it would be great for him to go on and be only the fourth player in the Club’s history to reach the 300-game milestone. To have his name appear alongside Kevin Bartlett, Jack Dyer and Francis Bourke would have been an extremely huge honor . . .
I know that this did not sit comfortably with Wayne, as he could not see himself in the same light as these great Richmond champions. But the fact that he’s been unlucky enough not to play in a successful era is not his fault, and should not detract from his achievements at Tigerland.
The discussion in Perth was not a particularly long one, because Wayne was very set in his mind that retirement was the right option for him at season’s end. Having been through this process a few times before, I knew that Wayne was making the right decision. He was very calm and clinical in his thought process and approach to the future.
I thought it was important he knew his form and leadership around the Club was respected enough to ensure this decision was totally his, and that the Richmond Football Club would support him in any way possible. From that Friday meeting onwards, we planned to have Wayne speak to the playing group and the media on Tuesday.
I am very pleased to have had the opportunity of coaching Wayne, albeit for only a brief time. As so often happens, your opinion of a player rises when you see them at close quarters. Wayne’s knowledge of the game and use of the ball was far better than what I had presumed, looking in from the outside. Even though it’s his last year, and the body had slowed down, his value and contribution to the team – especially early when we were trying to re-establish ourselves – was first class.
So, where does he sit as a player in the modern game? Well, anyone who wins four Best and Fairests at the one football club has a huge stake in the history of that club, and deserves the right to be considered a champion.
Champions come in many forms, but most of us only consider the title belongs with those league footballers who play the game in a spectacular fashion. The wonderful thing, however, about our sport is it allows for many shapes and sizes to participate, and there are so many characteristics to the game that are important.
Wayne, throughout his career, has not been the most gifted athlete, or a high-flying mark, or prodigious kick. But he had all the qualities I love in a player – a footy brain, strong will, perseverance and leadership. These are qualities you can rely on week in, week out as a coach, and they hold a player in very good stead over many years of AFL football.
To finish in the top three in the Club’s Best and Fairest on eight different occasions, to me suggests that Wayne Campbell was a player that every coach could rely on to give his best, each time he stepped out on to the field.
I have a feeling that Wayne will not be lost to AFL football. When I listen to him talk, he has strong, well-thought-out opinions on the game. He is a lateral thinker and still has a passion for the sport he started playing as a young boy.
After some time off overseas, he will come back to Australia refreshed and ready for new challenges. If football is his chosen pathway, I believe he would make a great coach or administrator.
Personally, I believe if this is to happen, he should broaden his outlook and cut his teeth at another club, as all of us can become far too insular, having spent all our time in the one environment. If the Richmond Football Club remains his passion, however, then those of us at Tigerland will assist him in any way possible.
Too many times in the modern game, champions leave their clubs with a sour taste in their mouths. And, there appears to be little respect given for those reaching the end.
It is pleasing that Wayne Campbell’s retirement is a good news story . . . Both Wayne and the Club have the same relationship and mutual respect as they did when he made his league football debut way back in 1991.
http://richmondfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=221740
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The players are two gutless to win 3 and make the finals for Campo....It should happen but it wont.