Tag: SEN

Fremantle has confirmed David Mundy will retire at the end of the 2022 season.

Mundy, who recently turned 37, has played 371 games for the Dockers since being drafted back in 2003.

He is currently the competition’s oldest player and has played a big role in the Dockers’ resurgence throughout 2022, averaging 22.2 disposals, 4.7 clearances and 2.6 inside 50s per game.

After 19 years, David Mundy’s incredible career will come to an end ⚓️ #foreverfreo

— Fremantle Dockers (@freodockers) August 1, 2022

“I’m incredibly proud, I’ve been living my dream for 19 years now and I’ve loved every bit of it,” Mundy said in a Fremantle statement.

“Not all of it has been easy, there’s been quite a few, really hard and emotional bits to it, but I’ve been able to grow as a person and as a player throughout my time at Fremantle and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I’m really proud of the person I’ve been able to develop into, the family I’ve been able to create, and my role within the football club. I feel I’ve grown from a skinny full back who didn’t want to talk to anyone, to being a part of the leadership group for a number of years now.

“I’m proud of that growth and that journey and I’m looking to get the most out of this season and explore what’s next.

“I’ve grown up at the Fremantle Football Club and I’ve spent more than half of my life in WA and associated with Fremantle.

“The entire Football Club, and each iteration we’ve had with players, staff and coaches, have been really supportive and it’s been a great environment to work in and strive for success and excellence.

“The whole club integration at the moment is the best it’s ever been, I love coming to work every day and it’s meant a lot to me.”

Mundy also paid tribute to his family, friends and family for the support over the year.

The imminent retirement leaves Mundy with no more than seven games left in his career if Fremantle plays the Grand Final.

He is currently 10th in VFL/AFL games played and will move into ninth ahead of Adam Goodes (372) in the coming weeks.

GWS caretaker coach Mark McVeigh made headlines over the weekend, calling out, by omission, the players who have checked out of the season.

The Giants were belted by crosstown rivals Sydney on Saturday afternoon 112-39. In his post-match press conference, McVeigh named eight players who he believes showed they’re still invested.

“There’s just the unfortunate part of dealing with whether players have checked out or not,” he said.

“That’s as honest as you possibly can be.

“There were probably eight players that really went to the wall today – Kelly, Whitfield, Perryman, Taylor, Ward, Hogan, Greene and Kennedy.

“I thought those eight players fought right through to the end and gave absolutely everything. Eight players doing that is not enough.”

The Giants have a number of players linked with an exit at season’s end, including Tim Taranto, Jacob Hopper, Bobby Hill, Tom Green and Tanner Bruhn.

Garry Lyon believes rival clubs should double down on their attempts to lure these players out, based on McVeigh’s post-game comments.

“Naming them and by omission that becomes … if I’m Tim Taranto or Jacob Hopper or Tom Green, (those comments) are an indictment on me,” Lyon told SEN Breakfast.

“Rarely does it come out publicly where (the coach) lumps you into that list and then not only that, about checking out of the year with three games still to plays.

“It is as damning an assessment, again, by omission, and I’m talking about when you name names, listening to that, Spike was considered enough and he would’ve known ‘when I go down this path and say there’s players checked out then I am acutely aware that this is putting the crosshairs on Taranto, Hopper, Green’.

“How do they come up for this week, those players?

“(Those comments are) an indictment on you as a person and a footballer.

“In the ruthless industry that we’re in, those comments for me also give Richmond, just for example, if you were interested in Tom Green before the weekend and those comments, then now you are going as hard as you possibly could – or Taranto or Hopper for that matter.

“Whoever the teams are that are interested in them, you’re going ‘righto, this is where they see you, and here’s your opportunity’.”

Former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley believes the unfolding situation at the Giants, following the sacking of coach Leon Cameron, has not put the players in the best environment to succeed.

“Firstly, I admire… that is a courageous thing to put out there by Mark McVeigh,” Buckley said.

“Whether it’s good for the club, I think it’s good for everyone in terms of the playing group, the club in general, the coaching staff, to actually be able to have real conversations about where they’re at.

“If their performance hasn’t been up to standard, well then it’s the coach’s responsibility to call that out.

“I reckon Mark McVeigh said what everyone knows anyway. That is, if you don’t have coach for next year, if there’s not a purpose beyond this next two or three games, what are (they) actually doing?

“The fact that it’s a game against Sydney is why he’s probably so wound up. It’s professional integrity, but you still need to be a part of something bigger than yourself. They are part of an organization that, at the moment, is in limbo.

“They don’t know who their coach is next year, they haven’t really given the players a lot of clarity, the coach’s job and the footy department’s job is to set their players up to succeed.

“My question would be, and I’m not letting the players off for poor effort, but the club’s job is to set players up to succeed and I don’t think the GWS environment, given they don’t know who their coach will be, or how their footy department is going to be setup, I don’t reckon they give their players the best chance to succeed right here right now.”

The Giants host Essendon on Saturday afternoon, before closing the season with the Western Bulldogs and Fremantle.