JOE Cudmore’s kick downfield on July 9 against Port City Breakers would prove to be the final time he put boot to ball in his career.
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He didn’t know it at the time.
After receiving some treatment on his right knee the Port Sharks captain-coach took his place in the defensive line on the wing.
The Breakers must have seen he was struggling a bit and sent some traffic his way.
On one leg after the diagnosis would later reveal a torn lateral-colateral ligament, Cudmore made a crunching tackle with his right shoulder that forced the ball loose.
That would be the final time he would contribute to the Sharks in an on-field sense.
Surgery a week later would repair his damaged right knee, but there would be no return to the field and a 26-year career was over.
You see, the captain-coach’s focus had shifted.
Truth be told, it had probably shifted a little less than a year ago when daughter Zali was born.
“I was already tossing it up to begin with and when this happened it just confirmed it for me,” Cudmore said.
“If this happened last year I probably would have been angry and bitter about it.
“Zali came along eight months ago and changed my life completely. There’s a lot more to life than footy so it’s a sad way to go out, but I’m still coaching the boys and still trying to instill my print on the team for the next five years.”
Zali came along eight months ago and changed my life completely.
- Joe Cudmore
Cudmore said he realised now was a good time step back from the club and enjoy family life with wife Laura and his daughter.
“Some days during the year I’ve left for work in the morning and Zali’s been asleep,” he said.
“I come home and she’s having a nap and I leave for training then come home from training and she’s asleep.
“I wake up the next day and then reaslie there’s been a whole day where I didn’t see my daughter which is pretty sad when you’re living with her.”
The Sharks coach admitted there would be times he wanted to get back onto the field, but that would always be there.
“You’ll have that itch til you’re 50 so you may as well get used to it now,” he said.
“I’ll probably only be on the hill having a beer next year if anyone needs me, so I won’t be too far away.”
Laura was pleased she’d be able to get her husband back after so many years being actively involved with the Sharks.
“Ultimately it was his decision and he was tossing up whether to go back at the start of the year,” she said.
“I know he wanted to make sure he could still chase Zali around the backyard in five years’ time.”