No send-off games for Hooker Zaharakis Carlisle to finish up at Saints

Essendon stalwarts David Zaharakis and Cale Hooker will not be given send-off games against Collingwood this weekend and have likely played their last matches for the club.

Hooker has already announced his retirement and has been supplanted in Essendon’s best side by ex-Gold Coast forward Peter Wright and youngster Harrison Jones.

Bombers stalwart David Zaharakis. Credit:Getty Images

Zaharakis has not yet retired, but sources say he is not expected to be given a new contract by the Bombers. He has not appeared at senior level since round 19 against the Giants.

Essendon will not participate in the VFL finals, either.

The Bombers’ unexpected rise to a position inside the AFL’s top eight with a round remaining has closed off the possibility of send-off games for decorated pair.

Because the Bombers are playing for a finals berth on Sunday, and neither of the veterans have been in their best side since round 19, they won’t select them unless there is a compelling need â€" such as a vacancy caused by injury.

Cale Hooker (left) has already announced his retirement.Credit:Getty Images

Hooker, 32, and Zaharakis, 31, have both been overtaken by younger players in the pecking order at Bomberland â€" Zaharakis finding it difficult to get a game this year behind the likes of Zach Merrett, Darcy Parish, Dylan Shiel and Andy McGrath. While Hooker has managed 18 games this season, and booted 33 goals, Essendon have a clear preference for Wright and Jones.

Zaharakis has played 226 games for the Bombers, winning the club’s best and fairest â€" the Crichton Medal â€" in 2011. Hooker, who has played 219 games, won the Essendon best and fairest award in 2015 and was All-Australian in 2014.

Hooker’s decision to stick with the Bombers in 2016 and ink a five-year deal was important to club’s retention of other key players in the wake of the season-long suspensions handed down by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Meanwhile, two former Bombers will have their St Kilda careers come to an end. The Saints will not offer Jake Carlisle a contract for 2022, with the 29-year-old expected to retire having played just four games this season after having back surgery in May.

Jake Carlisle’s St Kilda career has come to an end.Credit:Getty Images

Shaun McKernan is also hanging up the boots, having played 91 games at three clubs over 13 seasons.

Carlisle, an intercept marking defender, played 66 games for the Saints after being traded from Essendon at the end of 2015 where he played 85 games.

He missed 2016 due to the suspension imposed on players that were at Essendon in 2012, when that club ran a supplements program, but finished fourth in the Saints best and fairest in 2017.

Another former Bomber at the Saints, The 30-year-old was added to the Saints’ list in 2021 as the club looked to add depth to their tall stocks after making the finals in 2020.

McKernan played four games for the Saints. His most recent AFL match was in round 10 against the Western Bulldogs, a game St Kilda lost by 111 points.

Fremantle have moved on utility Reece Conca, informing the 29-year-old his contract would not be renewed beyond this season. Conca played 46 games with the Dockers after 104 games at the Tigers.

He left Richmond at the end of 2018 having played in the club’s preliminary final loss that season but was not part of the drought-breaking premiership in 2017 after suffering a Lisfranc injury early that season.

Gold Coast’s Jarrod Harbrow also announced his retirement. The former Western Bulldog was one of the expansion club’s inaugural players. He retires as the Suns’ first life member after playing 191 games with the club following 70 games with the Bulldogs.

He was a brilliant rebounding defender with a sharp sidestep and is regarded as one of the Suns’ most influential players.

The Western Bulldogs have extended the contract of running defender Ed Richards for two more seasons, locking him in until 2023 with Essendon also re-signing defender Brandon Zerk-Thatcher for two seasons.

Peter Ryan is a sports reporter with The Age covering AFL, horse racing and other sports.

Jake Niall is a Walkley award-winning sports journalist and chief AFL writer for The Age.

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