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Harmes, a 2021 premiership player with Melbourne before joining the Western Bulldogs in late 2023, on Tuesday told teammates he was retiring, per multiple reports. <\/p>\n
The 30-year-old has played 174 AFL games, including 13 last season under Luke Beveridge. <\/p>\n
Harmes had been away from the Dogs since Christmas as he dealt with a delicate personal matter. <\/p>\n
He was set to enter the final season of a three-year deal, with his now-vacant list spot set to be used in the SSP, which closes on March 2. <\/p>\n
The versatile attacker played 21 senior games in 2021 before a combined 31 over the past three years. <\/p>\n
PERTH, AUSTRALIA – APRIL 06: James Harmes has called time on his careerSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n
STAR DOCKER PENS BUMPER DEAL<\/p>\n
Paws off Caleb Serong. That\u2019s Fremantle\u2019s message to the competition after he and the club agreed to terms on a mega seven-year extension, per AFL Media\u2019s Cal Twomey. <\/p>\n
Serong was set to come out of contract and enter free agency in 2027, but the superstar Victorian midfielder has passed that up to remain in purple long-term. <\/p>\n
It means he\u2019s tied to Fremantle until the end of the 2034 season, in essence making him a Docker for life. <\/p>\n
The 25-year-old co-vice-captain has earned three All-Australian nods since debuting in 2020, with the club primed for a genuine premiership tilt this year. <\/p>\n
Serong has been one of the game\u2019s most durable star talents, playing at least 22 games in each of the past five seasons. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s a tremendous show of faith, and it comes less than a year after star teammate and co-vice-captain Andy Brayshaw shunned rival interest to re-sign at Cockburn until 2031. <\/p>\n
Hayden Young, the third member of Fremantle\u2019s midfield machine, in late 2024 extended at the Dockers until 2033, ensuring the club\u2019s core stars are all in place as coach Justin Longmuir tries to cultivate a flag formula. <\/p>\n
Ben King earns Victoria call up | 00:32<\/p>\n
DONS APPOINT FOURTH CEO IN THREE YEARS<\/p>\n
Essendon has appointed its new chief executive, and he is \u201cdetermined to reclaim\u201d the Bombers\u2019 reputation as an AFL giant.<\/p>\n
Tim Roberts was unveiled as the Bombers\u2019 new boss on Tuesday morning, elevating the experienced leader from his role as vice president.<\/p>\n
An Essendon statement said the club had conducted a \u201ctargeted search and then identified Roberts as the best candidate for the position and to lead the Club forward\u201d.<\/p>\n
Roberts, the Bombers\u2019 fourth CEO in three years, joined the board in 2022 and has vast experience in business management.<\/p>\n
Roberts said his vision was to reinstate success to Essendon, which has not won a final in over 21 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe platform for success has been created by those who have gone before me and I am proud to take on this challenge and continue Craig Vozzo\u2019s incredible contribution,\u201d Roberts said in a club statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Essendon I grew up barracking for were league leaders on and off the field, proud of the red and black and seen as a fierce, courageous, confident and bold club. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s my vision for this club and along with Welshy, our Board and leadership, we are determined to reclaim that space.<\/p>\n
\u201cEssendon is a club that should be consistently competing for finals and premierships, be embracing and impactful in our community and commercially sustainable.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring my business career I learned that people are the cornerstone of your success and footy clubs are no different.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have terrific talent across our club through the Executive, coaches, staff and playing groups, and our focus is to get the best out of everyone, being galvanised and executing our club strategy.\u201c<\/p>\n
The Bombers are also expected to make an on-field leadership change after Zach Merrett\u2019s failed attempt to join Hawthorn in the off-season.<\/p>\n
GEELONG, AUSTRALIA – AUGUST 03: Josh Carr has taken over as head coach of Port Adelaide.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
KOCH\u2019S BIG FINALS EXPECTATION<\/p>\n
Port Adelaide is embarking on a new era with Josh Carr in charge, but despite finishing 13th last year with nine wins, expectations at Alberton ahead of the new season are high. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always finals. We banned the word rebuild. Rebuild is an excuse for failure,\u201d Koch told Seven of Carr\u2019s pass mark for the year, speaking at a season launch event on Monday. <\/p>\n
\u201cJosh knows that we\u2019re a club that always wants to contend for finals, like so many of the other great AFL clubs – we should be no different. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s always the pass mark, but you\u2019ve got to put the processes in place for success. But we\u2019ve got to put in the behaviours and the processes each and every day at training and every game to achieve the dream and the pass mark to make finals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brownlow medallist Ollie Wines had said just days earlier the club had \u201cbecome a bit stale\u201d in recent years, to which Koch wasn\u2019t entirely receptive. <\/p>\n
\u201cOllie\u2019s a bit harsh, we made a prelim the year before last,\u201d Koch said. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut look, new head coach with Josh, (Stuart) Dew back, it\u2019s a whole new coaching group, and I think that\u2019s brought a freshness, it\u2019s brought excitement, and I think the players have really appreciated it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Power will open their season against North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium on March 15. <\/p>\n
Key Crow sent for surgery after injury | 00:24<\/p>\n
DEES VETERAN SET FOR SURGERY<\/p>\n
Melbourne premiership midfielder Jack Viney is set to undergo surgery on his injured Achilles on Tuesday. <\/p>\n
Viney, who\u2019s also been nursing a back issue, has been hampered by a sore Achilles over the summer and is now set to have a procedure to address it, according to AFL Media\u2019s Cal Twomey. <\/p>\n
The 31-year-old – who was last month tipped to return to training in February – is now expected to miss a significant period of time, as the Demons\u2019 midfield takes on a completely new look this year. <\/p>\n
Jack Steele slots in after crossing over from St Kilda in the off-season, but new coach Steven King and co. will be looking for second-year gun Harvey Langford to take the next step in the guts after Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver departed. <\/p>\n
Former midseason draftee Jai Culley was said to be having a strong pre-season in the midfield before his progress was stunted by a fractured arm at training last Friday. <\/p>\n
As well as livewire Kozzy Pickett, the versatile Trent Rivers will likely also be relied upon for midfield influence in the early stages of the year. <\/p>\n
The Dees kick off their 2026 campaign against St Kilda on March 15. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Premiership forward James Harmes has announced his retirement. Plus, Essendon and Fremantle have announced big moves, while Port…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":469788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[239945,638,64,2347,63,689,55,639,11295,19120,7803,239948,239944,239949,2105,2485,9130,36859,239706,3231,12112,239947,36895,12141,27709,11234,7804,239946,96904,677,239942,16228,6082,12104,77712,701,1124,85,1122,239943,79260,660],"class_list":["post-469787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-achilles-surgery","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-august","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-ben-king","tag-christian-petracca","tag-clayton-oliver","tag-finals-call","tag-finals-declaration","tag-finals-expectation","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-gold-coast","tag-gold-coast-suns","tag-harvey-langford","tag-injury-fears-surrounding","tag-jack-jovanovski","tag-jack-steele","tag-jack-viney-achilles","tag-jai-culley","tag-jeremy-cameron","tag-josh-carr","tag-mark-keane","tag-melbourne-demons","tag-midfield-influence","tag-midseason-draftee","tag-oceania","tag-ollie-wines","tag-pass-mark","tag-port-adelaide","tag-port-adelaide-power","tag-premiership-midfielder","tag-queensland","tag-south-australia","tag-sports","tag-st-kilda","tag-star-set","tag-steven-king","tag-victoria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469787","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=469787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}