{"id":491317,"date":"2026-02-20T01:02:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T01:02:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/491317\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T01:02:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T01:02:20","slug":"premiership-hero-james-harmes-to-play-for-moe-lions-after-sensationally-retiring-from-afl-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/491317\/","title":{"rendered":"Premiership hero James Harmes to play for Moe Lions after sensationally retiring from AFL football"},"content":{"rendered":"

James Harmes has committed to play for the Moe Lions in 2026 after sensationally retiring from AFL football<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Harmes hails from Devon Meadows, but has opted to reunite with close friends and connections at Moe.<\/p>\n

The former Melbourne<\/a> and Western Bulldogs<\/a> midfielder fielded offers from several country football clubs over the past couple of weeks … settling on the Gippsland League.<\/p>\n

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

It\u2019s understood the Lions have made shifts to their playing list \u2014 including coach Leigh Poholke sacrificing his position in the side \u2014 to fit the player points requirements to land Harmes\u2019 signature.<\/p>\n

It is believed Harmes will formalise his agreement early next week after agreeing to terms this morning.<\/p>\n

He joins former Pie and Crow Ben Crocker, former Dee Declan Keilty and 16-game Adelaide player Myles Poholke as ex-AFL players on the list.<\/p>\n

\"HarmesHarmes sensationally announced his retirement on the eve of the 2026 season. Credit: Getty<\/p>\n

Harmes took extended leave from the Western Bulldogs during this pre-season to deal with personal issues, before ultimately pulling the pin on a career that included 174 games and a famous premiership at Melbourne in 2021.<\/p>\n

Harmes was drafted way back in the 2014 rookie draft and made his AFL debut in 2015.<\/p>\n

He joined the Bulldogs ahead of the 2024 season after a successful 152-game stint at Melbourne<\/a> that included the 2021 premiership.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been so fortunate to play AFL footy for over a decade at two amazing clubs,\u201d Harmes said after retiring.<\/p>\n

\u201cWinning a premiership in 2021 was a lifelong dream and something I\u2019ll cherish forever, while spending the past two years at the Bulldogs has been special.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like the time is right for me to step away from the game and focus on other areas of my life. I\u2019m forever thankful to those that have played a part in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

He played 13 games for the Bulldogs in 2025 with his last game coming in the Dogs\u2019 thrilling Round 16 win over Sydney at the SCG.<\/p>\n

In that game Harmes had 21 touches, slotted a goal and, as per usual, was one of his team\u2019s best tacklers.<\/p>\n

He battled concussion issues throughout the year but the club said he missed the following week\u2019s game, against North Melbourne, due to illness.<\/p>\n

He did not appear at AFL level again.<\/p>\n

Harmes\u2019 three-year contract was due to expire at season\u2019s end.<\/p>\n

In other news, former Richmond superstar Dustin Martin is expected to play around six games this year in the Ovens and Murray League.<\/p>\n

It has been reported that the Brownlow medallist and triple Norm Smith medallist will step out for the Yarrawonga Pigeons.<\/p>\n

– With 7NEWS.com.au<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"James Harmes has committed to play for the Moe Lions in 2026 after sensationally retiring from AFL football.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491318,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,1625,3863,588,85],"class_list":["post-491317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-lifestyle","tag-sponsored-content","tag-sport","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491317","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=491317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}