We at BackPageLead stand and applaud Geelong skipper Tom Harley, whose 198-game career ended at Skilled Stadium today with a most gracious and humble retirement announcement.

What a way to go out – as a dual premiership captain and when it comes to footy, the world would appear to be his oyster. A career in the media surely beckons, although a front-office position with the AFL’s fledgling West Sydney operation might be his proper calling.

But if Harley ticked all the boxes you’d want to when it comes to retirement, there are plenty in sport who got it wrong, hanging around like a bad smell and in many cases, sullying an otherwise fine reputation.

BOXING

Muhammad Ali should certainly have retired in 1979 after avenging his world title loss to Leon Spinks the year before. After all, he was the world’s greatest living athlete. Those close to him had been counselling him to retire for several years before that. But to look at the Parkinson’s Disease riddled Ali now, you have to think that he went on for many years longer than he had to. Mike Tyson is another who fought for too long, about 15 years too long.

TENNIS

When 16-year-old Michael Chang beat Stefan Edberg in five sets to win the 1989 French Open, a great career beckoned. But sadly, that was it for Chang. He won his last tournament in 1997 and flailed around the circuit for another five years after that, regularly losing in the first or second round, while contemporaries such as Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi were dominating the circuit. It was all rather sad. Jim Courier was another whose career crashed and burned rather quickly after his French and Australian Open triumphs in the early 1990s, but who kept battling away valiantly, all the while hoping the magic would return.

GOLF

Arguably the biggest name in the sport through the 1980s was Seve Ballesteros, winner of two US Masters and three British opens in that time. His last win of any description was in 1995, yet he only retired from competitive golf in 2007. Seve spent much of this decade making the quick getaway on Friday afternoons after yet another missed cut. Ian Baker-Finch’s swing fell apart dramatically in the years following his 1991 British Open win. He should have been tapped on the shoulder several years before he finally put the clubs away.

AFL

Footy is riddled with big names, even Brownlow winners who didn’t see the writing on the wall. Tim Watson came out of retirement in 1993 to play in an Essendon premiership win but could barely get on the park the following year. Garry Lyon’s late career was riddled with injury, but he got his game together in 1998 when the Demons made it through to a preliminary final. But his body fell apart the next season and Lyon now admits he went on for one year too long. Shane Woewodin was playing on memory towards the end at Collingwood.

SOCCER

Paul Gascoigne, Diego Maradona and especially, the late, great George Best…three shining examples of world footballing types who should have got out at the top, and whose off-field shenanigans are now more memorable than their sublime acts on the pitch.

CRICKET

Did Steve Waugh play for too long? Take away that chanceless century against the Poms at the SCG in 2003, Waugh didn’t make too many runs in either of his last two Australian summers, although given his iconic status, it was heresy to suggest such a thing. Matthew Hayden, Jason Gillespie and Mark Waugh are other Australian cricketers of recent times who may have played on for just that bit too long.

Who have we missed? Let us know.