{"id":149747,"date":"2025-09-17T12:47:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T12:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/149747\/"},"modified":"2025-09-17T12:47:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T12:47:09","slug":"west-coast-great-jeremy-mcgovern-shares-details-of-afls-retirement-call-knew-i-was-done","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/149747\/","title":{"rendered":"West Coast great Jeremy McGovern shares details of AFL\u2019s retirement call: \u2018Knew I was done\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

West Coast<\/a> champion and five-time All-Australian Jeremy McGovern says he is happy the decision about his AFL<\/a> career was taken out of his hands.<\/p>\n

McGovern only managed six games this season, his last in Round 8 when he was subbed out after he was injured in a marking contest<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Stream Unfiltered free, live or on-demand, anytime at 7plus<\/a><\/p>\n

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today \"Download<\/a><\/p>\n

The star West Coast<\/a> defender then entered the concussion protocols and was later ordered to meet with the AFL concussion panel who ultimately told him his playing days were over.<\/p>\n

McGovern said he immediately knew his glittering 197-game AFL career \u201cwas done\u201d when the panel tapped him on the shoulder.<\/p>\n

Speaking exclusively on Channel 7\u2019s Unfiltered, McGovern said decision sucked but he knew it was the right call.<\/p>\n

\u201cI sort of knew I was done when the doctors said I have to go to the panel,\u201d McGovern said on Unfiltered<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"JeremyJeremy McGovern has joined Hamish McLachlan for another brilliant episode of Unfiltered. Credit: Seven<\/p>\n

\u201cI was trying to tell myself that I was going to be OK to make it through, but I was kidding myself.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou look at it holistically in the concussion space at the moment, my age, family, previous head knocks, injuries.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how long I was going to play for.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had another year on my contract, but you are weighing how much footy I have got left versus the risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it worth the risk for long-term health? No.\u201d<\/p>\n

He admitted he had been cavalier in the past when doctors had approached him after a head knock.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why the AFL makes these decisions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the players are really starting to come around to it as well and you do need buy in from the players. A lot of times the decision comes down to whether I want to go back out there or not.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been a shocker in the past when the docs want to pull you off and you sort of tell them to get stuffed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are only out there to try and look after you and as a player you need to respect that sometimes. Sometimes it doesn\u2019t because of the heat of the game and the circumstance of the game and everything else.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe worst thing about it all is I still think it\u2019s worth it. I\u2019d still go out and play.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d be looking at myself in the mirror and saying, \u2018Are you putting your career and your love of this game ahead of your family?\u2019 That\u2019s what the game means to me.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean more to me than my family, but god it has a piece of my heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s sad in a way and sucks but that\u2019s the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs much as I am sad to not be playing, I just accept it. That\u2019s what can happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cShould I really be upset when I have had the feeling of winning a flag? Playing more games than I thought I would have.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only reason I am sad is because it is the game I love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stream Unfiltered free, live or on-demand, anytime at 7plus<\/a><\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"West Coast champion and five-time All-Australian Jeremy McGovern says he is happy the decision about his AFL career…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149748,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,588,85,7067],"class_list":{"0":"post-149747","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sport","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-west-coast-eagles"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}