Retiring and reluctant Sydney cult hero Lewis Roberts-Thomson has revealed how Barry Hall taught him plenty about cars, beer, tattoos, but especially football, in torrid training ground wars.
The dual premiership-winning tall utility announced on Thursday he was retiring immediately after 179 games in 13 seasons.
He played in three grand finals, excelling in Sydney's 2005 and 2012 wins, but injuries had limited him to just nine games in the past two seasons.
"It certainly has been an very exciting journey, plenty of highs and plenty of lows," Roberts-Thomson, 30, told the media on Thursday.
Sydney coach John Longmire praised the man affectionately known as LRT for being a fantastic athlete and massive competitor capable of playing up forward, down back or in the ruck.
Some of his most vivid memories of Roberts-Thomson were in his early-career training-ground tussles with notoriously tough forward Hall.
"He (Roberts-Thomson) had a few losses for that period of time and a few blood noses but he never ever stopped going back," Longmire said.
Roberts-Thomson said Hall quickly taught him what was required to play at AFL level.
"You need the toughness and the resilience and Hally was great and he taught me that," Roberts-Thomson said.
"He also taught me a lot about cars and tattoos and how to enjoy a beer."
He said a lot of factors had contributed to the timing of his decision.
"If you look at last year, I had a knee injury and, this year, there's been a few little niggling injuries that haven't allowed me to perform at what I'd like and what's required at AFL level," Roberts-Thomson said.
"You bring those factors into it, the physical and mental side of the game. They are some of the reasons why you make the decision."
