Media Release from Geelong
Geelong premiership captain Cameron Ling has announced his retirement from AFL football. Ling, a veteran of 246 games, paid tribute to his team mates and the club that he grew up supporting.
“Cameron Ling will go down as an all time great club of the club,” Cats chief executive Brian Cook said.
“Cameron has always supported the club and has been a major part of the success that we have enjoyed over the past few years.
“He has played many roles and been a key part of our leadership group since he was 22 years old. Cameron has set a bench mark for others to follow at our club. He is competitive, courageous, strong, decent, never gives in, absolutely tenacious, value based, a tagger and a bloody good left foot kick".
Ling said he had only decided his future in recent days.
"I really seriously made up my mind over the last few days," Ling said.
"I had an idea of what I was maybe going to do at the end of the season for the last month or so but I suppose it's the nature of my personality and a lot of our personalities that we're just so focused on the moment and what we're trying to achieve that any of that sort of stuff is pushed to the back of my mind. I wanted to get the job done first.
"I've been a bit humbled and very pleased with the fact that so many people have said, 'Play on, you should play on, you've still got something to offer, you've had a terrific season, you did this, you did that’. That's nice. It's a hell of a lot better than people saying, 'It's about time, you should have gone a long time ago'.
"I do know I'm 100 per cent certain that I'm finished and therefore I'm content with everything I've done and it's nice to know I finished on a real positive and a real high, and I supposed finished with being able to contribute something to the footy club."
Ling was drafted by the Cats in 1999, and debuted against Port Adelaide in 2000. He was appointed deputy vice captain in 2003, and vice captain in 2006. He won Geelong’s best & fairest in 2004 and was named in the All Australian team in 2007. He was vice captain in the Cats 2007 and 2009 premiership wins, and captained his home town club to victory over Collingwood in last Saturday’s grand final.