Koschitzke a team man to the end
This article first appeared on saints.com.au
The 30-year-old veteran who announced his retirement from football this week is not too different to the 18-year-old kid from Brocklesby, NSW who arrived at the Saints at the end of 2000.
So in a season that has led to plenty of speculation about whether he would get to his 200th and final game, Koschitzke is grateful that he looks like sharing the occasion with fellow retirees Jason Blake and Stephen Milne and fellow 200 gamer Adam Schneider.
“It is so great that it is not just about one of us – it’s not just about my 200th, Schneids’ 200th or whoever is retiring,” Koschitzke said.
“It is a really great St Kilda day for a year that hasn’t been reflected in wins. The club has given us the dignity to do it like this and to go out and celebrate an amazing red, white and black day with some of the guys who have contributed significantly to the day. That is something the supporters should really get around.”
While Koschitke still has the proverbial boxes to tick as he looks to make his return from injury for one final run in Saints colours, he is confident he will make the game.
The popular forward has played just four senior games in a final season that has been interrupted by injury and lack of opportunity.
Koschitzke said he recognised early in the year that he would struggle to be a regular part of the senior St Kilda team, so instead concentrated on being a mentor figure to the younger St Kilda players at VFL team Sandringham.
“When I realised I needed to find a different direction to focus my energies into, we’ve got some amazing kids and a great young enthusiastic coaching staff,” he said.
“There are things happening around the place so the energy I could put in to growing those kids and helping them so I can come back in five years and watch them be a good footy side. That was what my purpose was.”
That team first-attitude is what Koschitzke says first drew him to football and ultimately kept him in it when the end neared.
“It is not an individual sport. There are so many people who, both in your family and outside it, who had an influence on your career and picked you up and took you to the heights of playing AFL footy for a long time. That is what it is all about and that is what I will probably miss – the camaraderie and team aspect of it,” he said.
“I’ve been here since the day I left high school. The friendships you form, the lessons you learn and what you get out of it, there is no doubt that through the ups and downs that I am a better person for being here and for the opportunities the club has given me.
“There are too many to name but the influences on my career and my life, whether they be coaches or teammates, every day was about coming here for the cause and representing the club and going to win footy games and hopefully give people something to go and watch. I hope that a lot of people have enjoyed the journey.”
