Sam Wolfenden says a combination of physical, mental and financial factors is behind his decision to announce his retirement.
The smooth-moving St Albans midfielder has decided to hang up the boots at just 24 after suffering a hamstring injury in the loss to South Barwon in Round 6.
Wolfenden has been restricted to seven games since football resumed after the Covid-cancelled 2020 season.
He played just two games in 2021 before a blood clot was discovered in his neck, prematurely ending his season.
When Wolfdenden returned in the middle of the 2022 season, he suffered a shoulder injury that required full reconstruction, causing him to miss the remainder of that year and 2023.
“It started to take too much of a mental toll, and gave me a bit of anxiety around footy, and made me not enjoy it,” he said.
“It’s been a build-up over the last four years.
“A hamstring injury’s not the end of the world, but when it’s piled on top of the other things, it felt like the end of the world.
“I didn’t want to do rehab anymore if I was being completely honest.”
Wolfenden, who made 61 senior appearances for St Albans, said his injuries were also impacting his life outside of football.
“Work’s been amazing, but it probably starts to wear thin after you have so many days off work,” Wolfenden, who teaches at Colac’s Trinity College, said.
“It’s never a nice thing to put your family through constantly seeing you injured, especially when the last few have been pretty severe.
“Financially, I’ve probably spent over $30,000 of my own money to get me back on the park.
“Those costs are only going to keep growing over the next couple of years if I was to keep playing.
“As much as you hate to think about that stuff, I’m not a full-time footballer, (and) they do start to come into play a bit.”
Wolfenden says he will miss the banter with his teammates in the changerooms.
However, that’s now spilled over to the golf course, with Wolfenden picking up the clubs in the past 12 months.
“I’ve actually really enjoyed it,” he said. “I’m not great at it, that’s for sure.
“The only way’s up from here – it can’t get much worse.
“A few of the St Albans boys are pretty handy golfers, so we get out a fair bit as part of recovery over the weekend.
“It’s a good game”.
Wolfenden was good enough to play five Talent League games with the Geelong Falcons, where he played under the highly respected Andy Allthorpe.
He hasn’t ruled out expanding his coaching after taking charge of St Albans’ reserves while sidelined last year.
“I still love the game, but injuries have taken that away,” he said.
“It’s something I really enjoy. Having a teaching background helps that a little bit.
“Whatever that looks like, I’m not sure yet. But I definitely want to stay involved as much as I can because I think I can offer a group a little bit of my experience from life and footy.”
While the Supersaints may languish at the foot of the GFNL ladder with the youngest list in the competition, Wolfenden believes that the club will soon return to being competitive.
“If you look at where we are on the field at the moment, in terms of win-loss, it isn’t the greatest,” he said.
“Being one of the senior guys of the group, that was probably the hardest part of my decision.
“But, I feel pretty confident that we are doing lots of things really well, and that’s not being reflected in the win-loss column at the moment.
“Our off-field stuff is top-notch. But some of those younger boys need to step up their game to the next level to become really good GFL players.
“I think the talent is there with Jordy Lyons, Brock McDonald, and you’ve seen what Sammy Donegan’s been able to do this year for the (Northern) Bullants.
“The talent factor’s definitely there. But they probably need to elevate themselves to the next level so we can actually become a really good GFL side.”
X: @krockfootball
