Luke Hodge defends not asking Joe Daniher the retirement question in post Grand Final interview

Luke Hodge has defended not asking Joe Daniher about his playing future following the AFL Grand Final.

Hodge was roaming on the MCG turf interviewing Lions players after their premiership victory, grabbing the often-aloof Daniher for a quick chat.

It has been reported that the key forward is weighing up his future, despite having one year to run on his contract.

Hodge said he didn’t think it was the right moment to ask the big newsy question.

“There’s times to ask that and just after a Grand Final when this guy has won it after all this time, I didn’t think it was a relevant question straight after a Grand Final,” Hodge told SEN’s Sportsday.

“I asked him to come over for an interview three times and he said no and then on the fourth he said ‘alright’ and came over with a smile.

“It was more about his journey. There were younger guys that pointed out that before they got into the finals series that they had a big meeting and Trent Cotchin was at the meeting talking about his finals experiences and doing the selfless things.

“I heard a lot of the guys the last couple of weeks speaking about what Joe was doing off the footy with his chase and his pressure and I felt that was more relevant to talk to him about, what the younger guys have noticed from a senior bloke who’s 30 and still willing to learn and get better for the benefit of the side.

“If I interviewed him today, 100 per cent that’s a question I would throw at him, but I thought post a Grand Final when there was so much going on out there, there was so much else to talk about.”

Hodge believes Daniher’s teammates will be desperately trying to talk him into playing in 2025.

“With a lot of people, these murmurs come out and they’re just sort of saying they’ve achieved what they wanted to and they’re happy to finish, but then two months later you’re sitting there and think playing AFL football is a lot better than going to a 9-5 job,” he said.

“Joe isn’t like everyone else. He could pull the pin, there’s no doubt about it. They’ll be sitting around on Mad Monday today saying ‘let’s go around again, you’ve got another year on your contract, give us one more’.

“They’ll all be trying to talk him into it, but it’s whether he has the drive to do another pre-season and another 12 months of football.”

The Age reported on Tuesday that Brisbane believe Daniher is a big chance to retire, but aren’t expecting anything official until later in the week.