Gehrig Press conference tues 11am
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4theluvoftheclub
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Gehrig Press conference tues 11am
to be held at the club.
Last edited by 4theluvoftheclub on Tue 27 Nov 2007 9:56am, edited 1 time in total.
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bigcarl
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strauchanie
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Re: Gherig Press conference tues 11am
bigcarl wrote:hope he's not retiring.
but this is Fraser we're talking about
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bigcarl
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Re: Gherig Press conference tues 11am
http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/news/g ... 11031.html
BY HIS own admission, Fraser Gehrig says he's "always done things a bit differently to most people in football".
So it would prove even in retirement. The dual Coleman medallist lasted just 85 days, from the time he was chaired from the MCG after St Kilda's round-22 win over Richmond until last Saturday morning when the Saints called his name as the 57th pick of the national draft.
Nor could the realisation that he still had the passion to play AFL football have come in any more atypical surrounds than the freezing cold of Schaffhausen, on the Swiss-German border.
On his first day back with his old club — barely a day after returning to the country — Gehrig recalled the moment he decided to give football another shot. "I was at the local gym and having a run on the treadmill and looking out over the Rhine River, and it was cold and snowing, and I thought: 'Oh well, if I'm going to be running on a stupid treadmill here, I probably should be running around a footy field'," he laughed.
And yesterday he got his chance. The 31-year-old headed back to Moorabbin for a meeting with coach Ross Lyon, to say hello to teammates and staff, and for a weights session.
"It's been a strange week, no doubting that, but I don't really see it as any big deal," he said. "It's not really like I retired. I don't think you're retired until you start missing games of football. I've only missed three weeks of training and kept myself in pretty good condition.
"The only big deal for me is going through the motions of retiring and being farewelled, so I feel a little bit embarrassed about that. But you only live once. I might as well have a crack at it."
Now that the shock his about-face created has abated and the logistics of his return to St Kilda are sorted, Gehrig is determined to make that crack a success.
"I've been able to do a fair bit of work, so I've come back in reasonable shape," he said. "Obviously, I haven't been kicking a footy or doing a great deal of running, but I think I should come along pretty quickly and there's plenty of time to get the body ready."
Gehrig concedes that, feeling "a bit crook towards the end of last season" after battling a bout of flu, "I probably was not feeling that good about myself".
"Looking back, I probably should have taken a little bit longer to decide (to retire) but I was very content with that at the time," he said.
Gehrig headed to Switzerland in October and was planning to stay at least until well into the new year. Despite his return he is more certain than ever that travelling is something he wants to do more of, but is content to put it on hold for now.
Despite having been happy to give AFL away last September, Gehrig believes he is prepared mentally for a comeback. "I've never done anything half-hearted, I don't think, and I really am 100%. Things can change pretty quickly and I'm very comfortable with where I'm at. I've been in this caper for a long time now and I think I know what I'm doing."
Enough also to negotiate his own new one-year contract, which, with the Saints' having topped up on senior experience since his departure, will be worth substantially less than his former rate of around $500,000. At his age and experience Gehrig reckons it's "not too difficult".
"I've always been guided by form and my body and what the club wants. If you're not getting a kick, they're not going to want you, and you probably won't want to play yourself," he said.
"I won't be on a great deal, but it's got nothing to do with money. If it had have been, I wouldn't have retired and I would have signed up again straight away. I think I'm still a reasonably valuable asset, but it's definitely not the money I've come back for, that's for certain."
For Gehrig, there's far more motivation in old-fashioned ideals, such as the chance to play another 10 games and reach 150 with a club he's come to love. A window of opportunity for St Kilda that he believes is still firmly open. And the possibility, even after 13 seasons and more than 250 games of AFL, of further individual improvement.
"If St Kilda hadn't picked me up, I still would have been very content retiring, but I think there's some challenges there for myself and I still think I can play a major role in helping the club," he said. "I'm going to change the way I train a little bit, prepare myself better during the week.
"Everyone saddles up each year with a point to prove and the time you're not thinking about that probably is the time to give the game away. This is an exciting time. I'm putting myself back on the line again and accepting what goes with it."
Gehrig's last game for St Kilda was a poignant affair, the big spearhead handing his jumper over the MCG fence to a young girl for whom Gehrig was a hero. Now, chuckles the returned Saint, he can give her another when he finally hangs up the boots for good.
"I'm pretty sure she'll be pretty happy to still have me out there," he laughs. Given the Saints fans' reactions to one of the game's shortest retirements, she's not alone.
etc, etc
BY HIS own admission, Fraser Gehrig says he's "always done things a bit differently to most people in football".
So it would prove even in retirement. The dual Coleman medallist lasted just 85 days, from the time he was chaired from the MCG after St Kilda's round-22 win over Richmond until last Saturday morning when the Saints called his name as the 57th pick of the national draft.
Nor could the realisation that he still had the passion to play AFL football have come in any more atypical surrounds than the freezing cold of Schaffhausen, on the Swiss-German border.
On his first day back with his old club — barely a day after returning to the country — Gehrig recalled the moment he decided to give football another shot. "I was at the local gym and having a run on the treadmill and looking out over the Rhine River, and it was cold and snowing, and I thought: 'Oh well, if I'm going to be running on a stupid treadmill here, I probably should be running around a footy field'," he laughed.
And yesterday he got his chance. The 31-year-old headed back to Moorabbin for a meeting with coach Ross Lyon, to say hello to teammates and staff, and for a weights session.
"It's been a strange week, no doubting that, but I don't really see it as any big deal," he said. "It's not really like I retired. I don't think you're retired until you start missing games of football. I've only missed three weeks of training and kept myself in pretty good condition.
"The only big deal for me is going through the motions of retiring and being farewelled, so I feel a little bit embarrassed about that. But you only live once. I might as well have a crack at it."
Now that the shock his about-face created has abated and the logistics of his return to St Kilda are sorted, Gehrig is determined to make that crack a success.
"I've been able to do a fair bit of work, so I've come back in reasonable shape," he said. "Obviously, I haven't been kicking a footy or doing a great deal of running, but I think I should come along pretty quickly and there's plenty of time to get the body ready."
Gehrig concedes that, feeling "a bit crook towards the end of last season" after battling a bout of flu, "I probably was not feeling that good about myself".
"Looking back, I probably should have taken a little bit longer to decide (to retire) but I was very content with that at the time," he said.
Gehrig headed to Switzerland in October and was planning to stay at least until well into the new year. Despite his return he is more certain than ever that travelling is something he wants to do more of, but is content to put it on hold for now.
Despite having been happy to give AFL away last September, Gehrig believes he is prepared mentally for a comeback. "I've never done anything half-hearted, I don't think, and I really am 100%. Things can change pretty quickly and I'm very comfortable with where I'm at. I've been in this caper for a long time now and I think I know what I'm doing."
Enough also to negotiate his own new one-year contract, which, with the Saints' having topped up on senior experience since his departure, will be worth substantially less than his former rate of around $500,000. At his age and experience Gehrig reckons it's "not too difficult".
"I've always been guided by form and my body and what the club wants. If you're not getting a kick, they're not going to want you, and you probably won't want to play yourself," he said.
"I won't be on a great deal, but it's got nothing to do with money. If it had have been, I wouldn't have retired and I would have signed up again straight away. I think I'm still a reasonably valuable asset, but it's definitely not the money I've come back for, that's for certain."
For Gehrig, there's far more motivation in old-fashioned ideals, such as the chance to play another 10 games and reach 150 with a club he's come to love. A window of opportunity for St Kilda that he believes is still firmly open. And the possibility, even after 13 seasons and more than 250 games of AFL, of further individual improvement.
"If St Kilda hadn't picked me up, I still would have been very content retiring, but I think there's some challenges there for myself and I still think I can play a major role in helping the club," he said. "I'm going to change the way I train a little bit, prepare myself better during the week.
"Everyone saddles up each year with a point to prove and the time you're not thinking about that probably is the time to give the game away. This is an exciting time. I'm putting myself back on the line again and accepting what goes with it."
Gehrig's last game for St Kilda was a poignant affair, the big spearhead handing his jumper over the MCG fence to a young girl for whom Gehrig was a hero. Now, chuckles the returned Saint, he can give her another when he finally hangs up the boots for good.
"I'm pretty sure she'll be pretty happy to still have me out there," he laughs. Given the Saints fans' reactions to one of the game's shortest retirements, she's not alone.
etc, etc
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saintbrat
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will also be live on SEN during his presser.
StReNgTh ThRoUgH LoYaLtY
Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly..!!
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Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly..!!
MEMBERSHIP 2014 31,134 Membership 2015 32,746 MEMBERSHIP 2016 - 38,101
MEMBERSHIP 2017 42,095 , Membership 2018 46,998
MEMBERSHIP 2019 43,106 http://saintsational.net/viewtopic.php? ... 9#p1816890
MEMBERSHIP 2020 48,588 http://saintsational.net/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=100107
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The Saintsational Man
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yipper
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Yeah, then there'd be a ground invasion and we lose our momentum and get run down!!....Saint 58 wrote:Best of luck to him.
Would love to see him kick his 100th in the GF to put us 30 up half way thru the last quarter !
I want to stand for something. I'm a loyal person and I think at the end of my career it will be great to look back and know that I'm a St Kilda person for life.
- Nick Riewoldt. May 19th 2009.
- Nick Riewoldt. May 19th 2009.
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yipper
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Yep. Me too.Saint 58 wrote:Yeah thought about that, I thought we would be safe half way thru the last quarter.
I'll kick anyone's ass who tries near where I'll be sitting !
I want to stand for something. I'm a loyal person and I think at the end of my career it will be great to look back and know that I'm a St Kilda person for life.
- Nick Riewoldt. May 19th 2009.
- Nick Riewoldt. May 19th 2009.
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jimmy_slats
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how about he kicks his 100th after the siren to contribute his fourth goal of the match to a 35 point victory for the Saintsyipper wrote:Yeah, then there'd be a ground invasion and we lose our momentum and get run down!!....Saint 58 wrote:Best of luck to him.
Would love to see him kick his 100th in the GF to put us 30 up half way thru the last quarter !
are we allowed to run on then?
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HarveysDeciple
as long as they are off in time for the presentation and victory lap, unlike the 96 Ansett Cup lol.SaintBot wrote:how about he kicks his 100th after the siren to contribute his fourth goal of the match to a 35 point victory for the Saintsyipper wrote:Yeah, then there'd be a ground invasion and we lose our momentum and get run down!!....Saint 58 wrote:Best of luck to him.
Would love to see him kick his 100th in the GF to put us 30 up half way thru the last quarter !
are we allowed to run on then?
Any news ?The fact that the big fella has come back home, and quite obviously, not for the money: This gets me very, very excited for the season to get underway:
This proves to me that the club is heading in the right direction and that there is a massive amount of buzz and hype around the club: I can't recall the last time I was this excited about a Saints season getting under-way...
Thats all well and good, but the fact that all these changes, everything thats gone all, everything that we have turned around: This has the PLAYERS excited, so excited it seems, that its luring them out of retirement. Having the players themselves very excited about starting a new season and getting out on the feild can only be a good thing.
Gherig coming out of retirement to come back to the NEW saints, just to play, just because he can see an oppurtinuty to be a part of something big, something special, I think, sends a very strong message to everyone who has even the slightest interest in football:
There has been a change.
Things are different now.
This is the NEW StKilda,
And together we are one.
This proves to me that the club is heading in the right direction and that there is a massive amount of buzz and hype around the club: I can't recall the last time I was this excited about a Saints season getting under-way...
Thats all well and good, but the fact that all these changes, everything thats gone all, everything that we have turned around: This has the PLAYERS excited, so excited it seems, that its luring them out of retirement. Having the players themselves very excited about starting a new season and getting out on the feild can only be a good thing.
Gherig coming out of retirement to come back to the NEW saints, just to play, just because he can see an oppurtinuty to be a part of something big, something special, I think, sends a very strong message to everyone who has even the slightest interest in football:
There has been a change.
Things are different now.
This is the NEW StKilda,
And together we are one.