'Gutted' West Coast Eagles stalwart Jeremy McGovern gets shocking news that has left fans reeling
A 'gutted' Jeremy McGovern will leave the AFL as a West Coast great after being forced into premature retirement through concussion.
McGovern announced his 197-game career was over on Friday, with the decision made for the key defender by the AFL's concussion panel.
The 2018 premiership player suffered a head knock in the Eagles' round-eight fixture against Melbourne and was referred to the panel after failing to recover following the mandatory 12-day period.
Lauded as the intercept king, the 33-year-old etched himself into West Coast history with his famous mark in their 2018 grand final win.
Overcoming internal bleeding in the lead-up to the eventual five-point victory, McGovern's quality shone through when he ditched his man - Collingwood star Jordan De Goey - to intercept Adam Treloar's kick inside-50.
The move kickstarted the chain that ended in Dom Sheed's match-winning goal.
The Eagles star helped lead the side to the 2018 grand final and AFL premiership before the club hit dark days
He finished that season with 77 intercept marks, the most in 2018.
'It's been an absolute honour to pull on the West Coast jumper for the past 15 years and it's something that I will forever be grateful for,' McGovern said in a club statement.
'As much as this isn't the way I would have liked to go out, I respect the decision.
'I'm gutted I don't get to pull the jumper on and run out one more time, but sometimes this is the way the game goes.'
McGovern arrived at the Eagles from North Albany with pick No.44 in the 2010 rookie draft.
But it wasn't until mid-way through the 2014 season, at age 22, that McGovern earned his AFL debut under former coach Adam Simpson.
The lynchpin of the Eagles defence, McGovern established himself in 2015 and earned four-straight All-Australian nods from 2016 to 2019.
He ends his career as the club's reigning John Worsfold medallist and as a five-time All-Australian, having collected another blazer in 2024.
McGovern and former coach Adam Simpson share a moment in the club's match against Collingwood in 2022
'To the club, I can't explain how much you have given me over my time here, and I can't thank you enough for drafting a fat kid from Albany and giving him a crack,' McGovern said.
'I've always loved the game and winning a premiership is every kid's dream, but the lifelong friendships and relationships you build through footy mean more to me than anything.
'I will forever be indebted to West Coast, and I will always bleed blue and gold.'
McGovern's exit follows that of former West Coast teammate Luke Edwards, who stepped away from the game last October to focus on his recovery from multiple concussions.
Collingwood duo Nathan Murphy and Josh Carmichael, Melbourne premiership player Angus Brayshaw and Western Bulldogs draftee Aiden O'Driscoll also had their careers cut short in 2024 because of concussion.
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