Despite the reversal, G-Train back on track

[my les foote]

http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/news/g ... 1031.html#

Despite the reversal, G-Train back on track

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.

[karnak]

thanks for posting that,

the big cow returns!

and this time he has 2 little birds to feed off him in Milne and Schneiderman.!


I can't wait!

[midas_touch]

Thanks for posting the article, I'm still getting my head around the fact that the G-Train is back with us and will be for at least another year. Only a guy of his character could pull off such a 180.