AARON Davey says he had mixed emotions after playing his final AFL match for Melbourne against the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
Although the Demons couldn’t give Davey a fairytale finish – they lost by 20 points – he said he relished the opportunity to wear the red and blue one last time.
“I’ve enjoyed every minute at this football club and I’ll always love this club for the opportunity that they’ve given me,” he told melbournefc.com.au.
“In all honesty, I just can’t wait to have a beer with the boys.
“We all deserve it after the couple of years that we’ve had. They’re a special group and I’m going to miss them – I’m going to miss them heaps.
“Hopefully I’m around in some role next year and helping out with a mentoring capacity. But at this stage, I’m just going to sit down and relax and take it all in over the next month and spend a bit of time with my family.”
Davey said his pre-match guard of honour, when the likes of former teammates David Neitz, Brad Green and Matthew Whelan were there to farewell him from the game was something he’ll always remember.
“It was an amazing feeling to see all of the old faces,” he said.
“I was just saying before, I’m probably one of the last of the [Neale] Daniher era that played with Neita (David Neitz) and all of the guys.
“To have all of those guys down there in a guard of honour was amazing. The best thing I love about this club is that I’ve made some great friends over the years and to see those guys there was amazing.
“To know these young guys are coming through – they’re going to be friends for life and I’ll always be grateful for that.”
Davey also thanked the Melbourne supporters, which he said had been an “amazing and great journey”.
“I just wanted to go out there and enjoy every minute of it,” he said.
“I just went out there and played on instinct. I enjoyed it and I couldn’t be more proud of the way the boys dug deep and fought it out, instead of rolling over after half-time.
“I was disappointed we didn’t get the result, but that’s footy – you can’t win them all. Good luck to the boys next year and we’ll get back up there.
