Wulff's East Perth legacy much more than just games recordSaturday, September 10, 2016 - 12:19 PM - by Chris Pike

IT is not just the games record he holds that will make Craig Wulff a legend of the East Perth Football Club. But it's impossible to imagine anyone ever being more passionate for the Royals as he now heads into retirement after a career built on hard work and dedication.

Wulff's CV will be enough to make him an all-time great at East Perth as the games record holder with 286 appearances along with being an FD Book Medallist, captain and two-time WA representative including one as captain.

But the impact of Wulff on East Perth since making his league debut in 2002 is much more significant than just those list of accomplishments. Wulff's love and passion for the Royals is immeasurable and in turn he become one of the club's most loved sons in history.

The 33-year-old retired following last Sunday's elimination final loss to Peel Thunder at Bendigo Bank Stadium as he was chaired from the field alongside fellow retiring great Paul Johnson. Not only will Wulff's 286 game record be unlikely to ever be broken, but his legacy will be impossible to replace.

Johnson a Royals great after five stunning years to end career 

After leaving the field for the last time as a player Wulff wasn’t sure what to feel, but the one thing that left him content was knowing he squeezed every ounce out of himself that he could.

"I'm not actually sure what to feel really. It still feels like we have a game next week at the moment but I suppose it will settle in over the next week or when you turn the TV on and other teams are playing footy, and you're not," Wulff said.

"But I've enjoyed every bit of it. I've had my opportunities and played in a couple of grand finals and a couple of prelims, so I can't complain. They are obviously very hard to win and I didn’t get one, but that's footy. I got 100 per cent out of myself that I could and the decision sits well with me now."

Wulff had a tough decision to make about playing on or not in 2016 with the club's games record awaiting him. But his form in the forward-line either side of an ankle injury proved that he made the right call to play on because he remained a strong contributor kicking 17 goals.

But it was that ankle injury that gave Wulff the time to decide that this would be his last season.

"I probably made the decision just after I hurt my ankle and missed seven weeks. I knew it was going to be hard to reach peak form again and obviously I'm not getting any younger, and the game gets quicker and quicker this year," he said.

"The odds were always against me but I still put in a few good games to hold my spot. My decision to play on meant I still had to play good footy. If for some reason I wasn’t playing good footy I would have had to make the decision and I didn’t want to force coaches make that decision for me.

"Obviously I still put a lot of pressure on myself to play well each week and I'm very competitive. Even after I was injured I did a lot of work on my own to be as fit as I could and my competitiveness got me through in the end."

Wulff is still not quite sure how much it means to him to be the games record holder at East Perth. But what he does know is how much the club means to him and the people involved are the ones he will miss the most.

"It's a name on the wall and I'm obviously very proud of it. I'm proud because of the amount of loyalty I showed to the club. They gave me an opportunity after I grew up in a Perth zone so to get across to East Perth was where I wanted to be," Wulff said.

"For them to get me across meant a lot and I've spent the rest of my life repaying that loyalty. It's like a second home, it really is. I'm sure for the first six months of being home it will feel like I'm meant to be somewhere and I'll probably either out of habit and grab the keys, get in the car and head to training before being halfway there and realising I'm not playing anymore.

"Just seeing the same people it becomes natural to be around the club. You just want to see the club do well and go forward, and credit to Bronte and Dean Turner for the position they've put the club in again.

"What it's all about is repaying people who put in the equal amount of work as myself. There's a lot of training staff and property people who have done equal the amount of work as I have, and they deserve just as many accolades."

Wulff came through the early years of his career at the end of that of one East Perth great ruckman Ryan Turnbull and now is proud to have retired on the same day as Johnson who finished his career with five consistently dominant years with the Royals.

It was back in 2012 and 2013 in particular when Wulff was spending most of his time as an inside midfielder that he was just about the best clearance player in the WAFL and that had a lot to do with the ruck work of Johnson.

"I hope he gets equal accolades as I get because he's been an outstanding servant. He came across when he would have had hundreds of offers from other clubs but he came to East Perth and stuck it out," he said.

"It's never been about money for him playing here but he has a great relationship with Bronte Howson through his work and he's stuck around to repay that favour as well which is outstanding.

"Just the way he put his body on the line right up until his last game against three ruckmen and he always thrived on that situation. He has been outstanding for five years but once you get past 30 it can get hard."

Wulff didn’t quite get to celebrate a premiership having witnessed East Perth win flags in 2000, 2001 and 2002 that he dreamed being part of, but there were some big wins that stand out in his career.

It was one in the final round of 2011 to book a finals spot against a dominant Claremont who was on the way to a premiership that was memorable and then again against a Tigers team coming off two straight premierships in a preliminary final stood out in 2013.

That got East Perth into a first grand final since 2002 and Wulff's first of his career.

"Being state captain was obviously big and beating Victoria in my other state game was too, but that preliminary final win over Claremont really sticks in my mind," Wulff said.

"If I think of the games I played that one really comes to mind because we probably weren’t fancied that day to win and we ran out pretty big winners.

"The other one that comes to mind was also against Claremont in 2011 when we had to beat them in the last round to make the finals and they had only lost twice all year. Those are two matches that really come to mind."

While Wulff did get to play in two grand finals in 2013 and 2014 late in his career after a long wait and he was captain in both, the losses to West Perth and Subiaco were tough to stomach.

"The second one probably hurt that bit more because we had a bit more talent in the team that day and we already had the hurt of a year earlier," he said.

"The rain came which didn’t help us but that was probably our best chance, but Subi played the conditions better than us and West Perth did the same in 2013. We were unlucky enough to get two rainy days when he had a skilful, tall and running team which we couldn’t take advantage of."

Given football has been such a significant part of his life, Wulff won't rule out an involvement in some form in 2017 but his immediate focus is on spending time with his wife Brooke and their three children Devan, Jai and Sienna.

"I'll keep my options open and I'm sure there will be a few phone calls coming and I'll listen to everyone, and make up my mind," Wulff said.

"I'll talk to my wife to see how much time I can put towards football or coaching next year but my family will come first for a while and any decision I make will need them to be happy with it. They've given me so much time to do what I want to do and its time that I repay them as well."