TonyK
CibbuanoCoaches pay tribute to Braun
August 25th 2008 01:28
WEST COAST veteran Michael Braun has finished his AFL career with a typically rugged performance in the Eagles' 71-point loss to Hawthorn at Subiaco Oval on Sunday.
Braun managed 23 disposals in his 228th match and showed great courage in the final term when he put his body on the line and backed into Cyril Rioli.
But Braun played down the incident, saying he simply did what had to be done.
"That's how I play my footy and I pride myself on putting my body on the line when it's my turn to go," he said.
"(And), it was my turn to go."
"It's pretty sad to bring it to an end, but all good things do come to an end and I've had a fantastic career, I can't complain, I'm a premiership player and life member of this club."
"I didn't want it to end, but I did kind of."
"I'm very sore at night, I just need a really good rest ... and I can't get comfortable at night. It's just an aching pain, but that's footy (and) I've sacrificed that to get to play football."
Braun's courage was put into perspective by West Coast coach John Worsfold who said the 30-year-old would have been rested had he not been retiring.
"Brauny was hobbling during the week and it wasn't ideal," Worsfold said.
"It was one of the weeks that if it was earlier in the year, he would have rested but he had a commitment to get himself up for the game and he did that."
"It was a great effort by him and as I've said, his whole career he showed that to the end, all his contests on the ground today."
Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson paid tribute to Braun who orginally hails from the Victorian town of Echuca.
"Usually when guys play at an interstate club at some point in a 10 to 12-year-career there's some speculation about when they return home," Clarkson said.
"The very fact that it's never come up in a debate at our footy club ... says a hell of a lot about the bloke. I thought he was a Western Australian, that's how heavily cemented he was in the culture of the West Coast footy club."
Braun managed 23 disposals in his 228th match and showed great courage in the final term when he put his body on the line and backed into Cyril Rioli.
But Braun played down the incident, saying he simply did what had to be done.
"That's how I play my footy and I pride myself on putting my body on the line when it's my turn to go," he said.
"(And), it was my turn to go."
"It's pretty sad to bring it to an end, but all good things do come to an end and I've had a fantastic career, I can't complain, I'm a premiership player and life member of this club."
"I didn't want it to end, but I did kind of."
"I'm very sore at night, I just need a really good rest ... and I can't get comfortable at night. It's just an aching pain, but that's footy (and) I've sacrificed that to get to play football."
Braun's courage was put into perspective by West Coast coach John Worsfold who said the 30-year-old would have been rested had he not been retiring.
"Brauny was hobbling during the week and it wasn't ideal," Worsfold said.
"It was one of the weeks that if it was earlier in the year, he would have rested but he had a commitment to get himself up for the game and he did that."
"It was a great effort by him and as I've said, his whole career he showed that to the end, all his contests on the ground today."
Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson paid tribute to Braun who orginally hails from the Victorian town of Echuca.
"Usually when guys play at an interstate club at some point in a 10 to 12-year-career there's some speculation about when they return home," Clarkson said.
"The very fact that it's never come up in a debate at our footy club ... says a hell of a lot about the bloke. I thought he was a Western Australian, that's how heavily cemented he was in the culture of the West Coast footy club."
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