Fremantle Football Club pays tribute to pressure forward Sam Switkowski, after he announced on Wednesday that he will retire from football at the end of Fremantle\u2019s AFL finals campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The 29-year-old has spent nine years in purple and will head into next week\u2019s Qualifying Final poised on 127 AFL games.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Switkowski says the decision is family driven with he and wife Savannah expecting their first baby. \u00a0<\/p>\n
An emotional Switkowski informed teammates of his decision at the end of a team meeting this afternoon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely been something that I\u2019ve been thinking about for a long time,\u201d said Switkowski.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been weighing up when might be the right time to head back home and reconnect with family and friends because it\u2019s something that\u2019s always been really important to me \u2013 even more so now \u2013 starting a new family of my own.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a tough decision because the journey\u2019s been so incredible. I\u2019ve absolutely loved my time at Freo. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve hit that point now that I have good clarity on who I am as a person and my values, and the things that are really important to me. It just feels like it\u2019s the right time to move onto the next phase of my life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing around family and friends again to set up Sav, myself and my family in the best place to be the best father and husband I can be.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Switkowski says he\u2019s happy to retire a one Club player. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve only ever wanted to play for Fremantle and I\u2019ve felt that way for a long time. I\u2019m really proud of the small contribution I\u2019ve made,\u201d said Switkowski.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI never thought I\u2019d have made it into the AFL, let alone play close to 130 games now and be in the system for almost a decade.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so grateful for the experience, it\u2019s just been a privilege to be able to do this as a job for so long. I\u2019m incredibly proud for what I\u2019ve achieved and for what the Club has been able to achieve and transform into over my journey.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe love I\u2019ve developed for the Club over the time I\u2019ve been here has just never made me want to play anywhere else. The latter part of my career has become less about my own individual accomplishments, and me as a footballer, but just what I can do to serve this Club and give back and put it in the best position to succeed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t have the desire to continue my playing career anywhere else so I\u2019ll be moving on to something different, I\u2019m not sure what yet.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really at peace with the decision and content and excited for finals footy, to really just enjoy every moment and see what we can do.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Raised in Melbourne\u2019s north east, Switkowski represented Vic Metro in the 2014 U18 National Championships before joining the Box Hill Hawks the following year. Drafted from the VFL as a 21-year-old with pick No.73 in the 2017 AFL Draft, Switkowski made his AFL debut in Round 21, 2018.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Known for his football IQ, pressure acts, and dogged determination to get the best out of himself, Switkowski was elevated to the leadership group ahead of season 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He finished inside the top 10 of the Doig Medal count on four occasions (10th in 2021, 6th in 2023, 5th in 2024 and 8th last season), won Best Clubman in 2022 and the Beacon Award as the Club\u2019s best young player in 2019. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Fremantle Executive General Manager of Football Joe Brierty said the Club understands Switkowski\u2019s decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been having ongoing discussions with Sam and his management across the year as our focus was to look to extend his playing career with the club beyond 2026,\u201d said Brierty.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAs it became clearer that Sam had decided to head back home to be around family and friends before starting the next phase of his life with Sav, and the impending arrival of their first son – we understood and respected his decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an unusual situation when you have a player that has decided to retire while still playing some of his best football during his time at the Club, but this is just a reflection of the calibre and character of the person that Sam is.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNot for one moment in his time at Fremantle has Sam not invested 100 percent of himself as a player, teammate and leader.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSam will be remembered as a player that got every ounce out of his football career, played his role for the team week in week out and always put the Club first.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNow it\u2019s time for Sam and Sav to prioritise their family and what comes next, knowing that they will forever be part of the Fremantle family. But before this, we know that Sam is committed to ending his career the right way as a key part of our playing group determined to give everything to the coming finals series.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fremantle Football Club pays tribute to pressure forward Sam Switkowski, after he announced on Wednesday that he will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":868705,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-868704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868704","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=868704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/868705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}