SYDNEY doctor Nathan Gibbs will never forget the day Brett Kirk swung a punch at

him.
He was the first and only player to ever throw a jab at the medico, Kirk's aggre
ssion a symptom of yet another concussion.
But Kirk was not going to let Gibbs take him off the field.
"I had to grab him and tell him to come off the field and he swung a punch at me
," Gibbs said.
"It's the only one he has thrown in his career and he is probably the only playe
r in the team I wouldn't have been scared of having a punch thrown at me."
Kirk was naturally apologetic afterwards, but it is a story that does not surpri
se coach Paul Roos, who has at times wondered what planet his captain was on.
"The amount of focus he puts into his game, he is almost in another zone when he
plays for that two hours," Roos said.
"You can tend to talk to him and not be sure he is actually listening but you kn
ow he is, it is just that he is so focused when he plays his footy."
This is the power of Kirk. The Buddhist warrior with an incredible ability to pu
t mind over matter.
It is why no concussion, no soft-tissue injury and no broken bones have kept him
from the football field in eight years.
Saturday night's semi-final against the Western Bulldogs at the MCG will be his
200th consecutive game of AFL footy. It could also be his last. He is just the f
ifth player to achieve the feat.
Kirk's streak stretches back to the day of his final chance, when in just the th
ird week of Roos' reign as interim coach in 2002 Stuart Maxfield pleaded for the
scrawny midfielder to get an opportunity before the club delisted him.
Since then, Kirk has played every game as if it was his last.
Gibbs has ruled Kirk unfit to play many times during the past eight years, but h
e has always played.
"He is the best judge of his body. We trust his opinion about his body without a
ny concern," Gibbs said.
It's not that Kirk has miraculous healing ability, wife Hayley says it is his me
ticulous preparation.
Every morning yoga, meditation and ocean swimming. Every night a luxurious bath
at home.
"It could be blowing a gale outside and he is in the ocean every day," Hayley sa
id.
"He'd come home and his feet and hands would look like he has just come out of t
he morgue.
"He prepares his body really well for what physically he has to do.
"His discipline is just ridiculous."
But there have also been times when she wonders if someone is looking out for Ki
rk because he has avoided serious injury.
Such as the Round 16 clash with Richmond at the SCG in 2006 when the Tigers' Sha
ne Tuck accidentally kicked Kirk in the head.
It was the only time he had been carried from the field on a stretcher.
"How he didn't break his jaw, who knows?" Gibbs said.
A pregnant Hayley was at home when the incident occurred, but remembers speaking
to Kirk after the game.
"He fair dinkum thought he was a rock star getting ready to go out and do a conc
ert. He had no idea what he was doing," she said.
"When things like that happen and he gets knocked out, I think he shouldn't play
the next week.
"He is just really resilient or there is someone looking out for him."
For the record, Kirk played the following week and was near best on ground with
27 disposals.
Teammate Adam Goodes is amazed at how Kirk has endured 200 games straight.
Goodes, who played 204 successive games between 1999 and 2007, said Kirk put his
body through more than most, considering he is an inside midfielder who is cons
tantly kicked, punched, scragged and belted in the clinches.
"He runs about 14 to 16 kilometres a game and that does not include the tackles,
" Goodes said.
"The body pressure and the body hits he has taken, it all adds up. But it is all
mental for Kirky. He overcomes it all usually with his mental strength. He is a
big believer in meditation. His body is his temple."
It's why all the modern-day technology and scientific data the Swans use to trac
k their players doesn't apply to Kirk.
"If he is a little bit unwell, he finds the best way to get well again is to tra
in," Gibbs said.
Maybe that explains why the flu has ripped through the Kirk household this week,
striking down all four kids and Hayley, but not Kirk.
"He never gets a cold," she said.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/courageous-sydney-captain-brett-kirk-finds
-his-own-space/story-e6frf9jf-1225917677086

DON'T blame his ageing limbs, don't blame the pace of the modern game, don't eve
n blame the demands of having four young children.
No, it's that damn Deepak Chopra's fault.
Brett Kirk was lying in the bath reading the Indian-born spiritualist on Sunday
night when he realised the reason for his nagging discontent of late: it was tim
e to quit footy.
The dogged Swans co-captain had been out of sorts for a couple of weeks. The Bud
dhist ball-winner realised he was being neither a good father nor a good teammat
e. He'd even yelled at the kids that day.
The penny dropped in the bath that night: the universe was telling him it was ti
me to retire. Now it was time to tell the universe.
The Swans are like no club before them and probably like no other club this side
of the Dalai Lama's McLeod Ganj soccer team.
Coach Paul Roos follows a similarly eastern philosophy to his co-captain and yes
terday endorsed Kirk's decision and rated him one of the most influential people
in the history of the Sydney Swans.
Roos pointed out that Kirk, 33, was about to be cut from the playing list at the
end of 2002 but was saved only by the advocacy of then captain Stuart Maxfield.
From that point on, Kirk has regularly finished in the top three of the club's
best and fairest.
He won it in 2005, the premiership year, and 2007.
"Both from a performance point of view and also from his legacy to the culture o
f this club, Brett's probably been unprecedented in the history of this football
club," Roos said.
Surrounded by his children, watched by the entire Swans senior playing roster an
d staff, Kirk announced his pending retirement in his own distinctive way. "I ca
n feel the love in the room, today that's what it's going to be like, I guess it
's like a love-in," he began.
"I love this football club, I am passionate about this football club and I serio
usly care about the people involved in this club and the people that have been b
efore us.
"I play with my heart, I lead with my heart, and I am making this decision from
the heart.
"At the end of this year I am going to retire from footy."
The 225-game veteran explained he had to get the decision off his chest so he co
uld regain clarity of mind. "This is not me waving the white flag, this is not m
e saying it's too hard, or that I am giving up, or that my body is no good," he
said.
"I will continue to fight, I will continue to give everything for my teammates,
I will leave everything out on the ground, which I have done previously in my ca
reer, because that's what it is all about.
"I want to be the dog that sticks its head out the window and lets the wind flow
through its hair. I want to enjoy the rest of the year."
Roos said that even if Kirk had wanted to retire immediately, he would not have
let him as he was integral to the side's requirements.
Kirk's career was, in fact, over before it began. Drafted from North Albury in 1
998, he was sent packing at the end of that year. He decided to have another cra
ck and finally made his debut in 1999.
He was slight, slow and not a penetrative kick or a strong mark, but he eventual
ly found a niche as an in-and-under stoppage player with an ability to close dow
n the game's best midfielders.
The Swans' strength at stoppage football and blood-brother unity was primarily a
uthored by the player known as "hippy".
At its height, the Bloods culture took the side to a premiership. Unfortunately,
few other sides had a coach or a co-captain who meditated on game days. "My car
eer hasn't been built on ability, it has been built on competitiveness, fight, m
ental discipline and strength of mind," Kirk said.
"I think my mental focus was clouded at the weekend so I couldn't function as I
normally do. I want to leave the game playing good football and trying to achiev
e something with this group.
"I have fought against a lot because of the way I got here - I tend to think I w
as up against a lot and that's probably what built me, built my character."
He hopes he is leaving the room better for his time spent in it.
"I hope through my passion, through my courage and my compassion that I have bee
n able to enrich people's lives," Kirk said.
"That not only players but also people outside these walls might be able to emul
ate my example in not giving up and doing everything possible and putting it on
the line."

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sport/time-up-for-unprecedented-swan-brett-
kirk/story-e6frg7mf-1225868913507