Antoni Grover left the game the same way he started - giving everything he had

AT ANTONI GROVER’S retirement media conference, his long-time teammate Luke McPharlin was by his side, just as he has been for over a decade in the heart of Freo’s defence.

McPharlin spoke about the courage and dedication Grover displayed throughout his 202 AFL games.

“Antoni’s always had a huge amount of courage, he always put his head over the ball, he always went back with the flight,” he said.

It’s perhaps fitting then, that Grover’s last act as an AFL footballer evoked every single bit of that courage McPharlin spoke of.

Running back with the flight of the ball in his first game of the season, against the Western Bulldogs at Patersons Stadium in round 15, Grover was crunched in a contest and subbed out injured.

Yes, it ended his game and probably cost him the opportunity to win back his spot in the team.

But Grover wouldn’t have done it any other way.

“If I look back on my last contest in AFL football, I’ll be sitting there with a smile on my face because I knew I went 100 per cent,” he said.

He’d done it no differently from his very first game — way back in 1999 against Sydney at the WACA.

“I think back to my first game and the first contest I was in, I just went as hard as I could at the ball,” he said.

“I started the same way and I finished the same way.”

The only member of Fremantle’s 2012 list to have played in the 90s, Grover arrived at Fremantle as an 18-year-old rookie in 1998 after a fairest and best in the Subiaco colts.

It was that battle to make it onto the senior list that he credits for helping to mould him into a “competitive animal”.

“Coming off the rookie list, you’ve got to be hungry,” he said.

“You’ve been knocked back a bit, you haven’t been drafted straight away — you’ve really got to fight for it.”

And fight he did, often against the best forwards the game had to throw at him.

Never one to shirk from a battle, Grover’s favourite opponents through the years included Aaron Hamill, Fraser Gehrig and Dean Solomon.

“Guys that really like to bang with you,” he said.

“I got the opportunity to play on some great players and you win some and you lose some, but I’d like to think I won more than I lost.”

LEADERSHIP
If you believe McPharlin, Grover can still match it with the best forwards in the AFL.

“He’s an enormous competitor,” McPharlin said.

“Even to this day I’m sure he could, with ease, come out onto the field with the AFL side and be super competitive.”

There have been many highlights along the way for the 32-year-old, who was raised by his mother, Sandra Grover, in Balga.

As well as being the first Indigenous player at the Fremantle Dockers to play 200 games, he says he feels privileged to have played with some of the greatest names in the club’s history, some who he now sits alongside as a life member.

“To be a life member of the football club is a significant thing for me,” Grover said.

“I’ve played with some terrific teammates like Shaun McManus and Troy Cook.

The blokes I really looked up to first were Shane Parker and Dale Kickett.

“Also Peter Bell and Matthew Pavlich, my captain, I’ve always looked up to him.”

What Grover’s humbleness will not allow him to realise is that most of his current teammates now look up to him.

“With his leadership, a lot of the young players look up to him, particularly the Indigenous players,” McPharlin said.

McPharlin said it had been an “absolute honour and a privilege” to play alongside Grover.

“To walk out with Antoni and play against some of the best forwards, I always walked a bit taller and felt very strong and confident we could get the job done together,” he said.

“He’s been an absolute stalwart for this football club and he leaves an indelible mark and a legacy that will be remembered.”

To understand what football means to him, you only have to see the expression on Grover’s face when he attempts to answer how he’ll cope without the game.

“It’s been a big part of my life,” he said.

“I’m not sure how I’m going to feel really. I have to get away from here to really know that.

“Football’s tough but it’s a great lifestyle. You get to be as fit as you can and your teammates become your close mates. That’s what I’ll miss most.”

DISBELIEF
Reflecting on the young man whose journey from humble beginnings led him onto an AFL list and culminated in a 200-game AFL player, Grover just shakes his head in disbelief.

“You dream about those sorts of things at that age, don’t you,” he said.

“I would have taken one game.

“I’m very appreciative to the club for giving me the opportunity at the beginning.

“At the end of the day, 14 seasons and 200 games of AFL football, I would have taken that.”

He thinks the club is well-positioned on and off the field to finally achieve what he has given everything to win — a premiership.

And if, or when, that happens, even though he won’t officially be a part of the team, don’t think for a second he won’t be a Fremantle Docker.

“I’ll be the first one there banging down the door trying to get in the change rooms if the boys did go on to win one.”

If he bangs as hard as he did to forge a successful AFL career for himself, that MCG door stands no chance.