Shane Tuck's retirement plans on hold Sam Edmund
From: Herald Sun
June 01, 2012 SHANE Tuck walked into Damien Hardwick's office with his retirement speech ready to go.A miserable 2011 season was coming to an end. One that had seen a regular of the Richmond midfield reduced to a regular of Coburg's.
Tuck had played only four senior games until Round 18 and was emergency nine times. At 29, it didn't take Einstein to see the writing on the wall and as he sat opposite Hardwick he was determined to get in first.
"I actually retired, believe it or not, at Round 22 last year," Tuck told the Herald Sun.
"I was going to retire because I thought I was going to get the a---.
"I was pretty prepared to finish footy, to retire at the end of the year, have a final game and that would be it."
Tonight, nine months later, Tuck will run on to Etihad Stadium for his 150th AFL game.
It's a milestone that has taken 11 years and included rejections, criticism, uncertainty and, early on, the overwhelming pressure of being the son of a legend.
This is the tale of a comeback against the odds. Despite the Punt Rd honours - a runner-up (2008) and two third placings (2005 and 2007) in the Jack Dyer Medal - nothing could hide the glaring reality that Tuck was drowning in the complexities of the modern game.
"At the end of 2009 when I got dropped (by caretaker coach Jade Rawlings), that was when the new defence came in," Tuck said.
"He had his way of coaching and I couldn't get it. I just didn't get it.
"I was so used to playing a certain way and when you're in the heat of games you just go back to your natural instincts. I stuffed a few things up and he wasn't happy with that.
"I got a fair bit hung on me about not manning up defensively and that was when the new way of playing came into it. Terry (Wallace) was very one-on-one, push back and help your defence out, whereas when the new coach took over it was more pressing up and all these things I didn't know much about."
The thought of retirement first entered Tuck's head in Round 12 last year. He started a removalist business called Multistream Australia and set himself up for a life after footy.
"I was talking to Will Thursfield and I was saying:. 'I'm finished mate', and he was saying the same thing," he said.
Tuck cannot really describe what happened next. Presented with an opening, he would return to play the last six matches of 2011 and produce a run of form that saved his career.
"We ended up winning a few and it looked like we were on the rise. Some guys were playing some good footy and we've obviously got some young, up-and-coming superstars around the joint," he said.
"With me, it's just practice. Just having pre-seasons where you're out there every session, just learning what you've got to do and playing games. It takes time."
Hardwick, who had taken serious convincing Tuck was up to the demands of the modern game, told him his resignation would not be accepted.
"We had a good chat and he said he wanted to keep a few developed players around," Tuck said.
"He liked the mix and said he was going to play blokes on their merits and not worry about age.
"If you were playing well you'd get a game."
Tuck grew up chasing the impossible - his father Michael's unrivalled 426-game and seven-premiership career.
He played juniors at Beaconsfield and TAC Cup for Dandenong Stingrays before joining Hawthorn where his dad stared back at him from almost every photo.
It was a tumultuous taste of top-level football. Already faced with suffocating expectation, Tuck then copped a bout of osteitis pubis and a heart problem that required surgery.
But it was the pressure to follow in his father's famous footsteps that caused the most heartache.
"I struggled with it and that was probably the reason I was up in the air with a few things," he said.
"When I was younger I didn't think I could reach the heights of the old man, but I don't think anyone will play that amount of games.
"As a kid you don't really think straight sometimes. I let things like that affect me too much.
"When I had my time away from Hawthorn I became proud to be his son rather than let it become a burden."
Tuck admitted the Hawthorn axing "shattered" him. He had to get away. Away from the AFL, the city and away from the pressure to perform.
His love for the game would return in the strangest of places - Carrum Downs in the Mornington Peninsula Nepean Football League.
The club, which folded several years ago, was belted by 15 goals most weeks and only won one game. Tuck was bricklaying and working as a courier, but was the happiest he had been for some time.
"I'd just had enough of footy, I didn't watch it on TV or anything," he said. "It was a total disconnect and it probably did me the world of good to be honest, just having a kick with mates and a few beers after the game."
If the fire was lit at lowly Carrum Downs, it raged
in the SANFL where he spent the following year under Shaun Rehn at West Adelaide.
"It was a big year. I met my wife (Katherine) and everything just happened that year," Tuck said.
"I got the love back. There was nothing else to do but train and keep myself fit and I didn't drink for ages and hardly went out. I just knuckled down and things turned out."
Richmond made contact via then-director of football Greg Miller and former recruiter Greg Beck before the Tigers gave him another chance with pick No.73 in the 2003 national draft.
Nine rounds into the 2012 season Tuck ranks No.1 at Richmond for contested possessions (10th overall), clearances (12th) and second for tackles (equal sixth). He is averaging 25 disposals a game and his 132 handballs rank fifth in the AFL, highlighting his extraction prowess.
These are the numbers of a man in serious form.
Hardwick went as far as to claim Tuck was playing the best football of his life, less than a year after his future was in serious jeopardy.
"His ability defensively to play now is very, very good. That was an area of concern we had over his future, but he's been fantastic this year," Hardwick said.
"His ability to use the ball by hand and foot has certainly improved and he's taken that onboard also.
"He's a guy that players love to have around and he's one of those characters you speak about regularly."
The honour roll says he has been a good player for a long time, but maybe only now on the eve of his 150th game and after all the ups and downs, has Tuck "made it" in the eyes of everyone.
"I just want to try my best, hang in there and be successful. If you work hard and do the right things, it just seems to work out," Tuck said.
"I just hate the feeling of what could have been."
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/afl/more-news/shane-tucks-retirement-plans-on-hold/story-e6frf9jf-1226377903170
