Thomson captain Sam Jacka says winning consecutive GDFNL premierships would be the ideal way to cap his career.
The 33-year-old has revealed to K rock Football season 2025 at last night’s GDFNL season launch – his 16th at senior level – will likely be his last.
“Being a realist, I probably think this is the last one,” Jacka said.
“I’ll probably miss it and might be able to run around, but I think this is probably it.
“I want to get the best out of myself this year and make sure that I can finish on the way that I want to finish, for sure.”
Thomson enters this year chasing consecutive premierships for the first time since 2006.
Jacka, who has 247 senior matches to his name since debuting as a 17-year-old in 2009, still rues the chance to go back-to-back that was presented pre-COVID.
“We had the opportunity to do it 2018-2019 and fell over at the last hurdle,” Jacka said.
“You hear those discussions that (if) you can do it (win a premiership) one time, it might be a fluke.
“If you can do it twice, it certainly means something. We’re pretty motivated to be able to do that.
“It would be a nice little bucket list tick if we could tick that off, (and) it would be a nice way to finish up for the career.”
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However, Jacka knows that there is a chasing pack eager to spoil the reliable defender’s plans.
He expects 2024 runner-up Belmont Lions and minor premier East Geelong will be thereabouts again, while also pondering the prospect of a couple of teams jumping out of the lower reaches of the ladder.
“It’s a pretty even league,” Jack said. “It’s really hard to put your finger on anyone this early.
“We were just talking about Geelong West, and they’re certainly a team that we know will improve this year as well.
“And Corio, they’re going to be really sticky. They’ve brought in some really good talent.”
Thomson opens its premiership defence against the Giants at West Oval, who welcome back star forward Alex Blair from Tasmania among several handy additions for second-year coach Scott Frangos.
“They’ve got a lot of talent, brought a lot of good footballers back, and Blairy’s going to be really sticky coming out of the forward line,” Jacka said.
“He’s quite a talented footballer.
“They were riddled with injuries (in 2024), and there they’ve got the capacity to really jump up the ladder this year.”
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