Mooney's last stand

VETERAN Geelong forward Cameron Mooney has confirmed he will retire at the end of the season, but still hopes to play a major role in the Cats' finals campaign.

The 31-year-old three-time premiership player (he won his first with North Melbourne in 1999 and two more with Geelong in 2007 and '09) announced his decision at a press conference at Skilled Stadium on Tuesday morning.

He then informed his teammates out on the oval before they began their training session.

"I think everyone knew it was pretty much coming anyway," Mooney said. "I haven't made it a secret that I am retiring at the end of the year.

"Basically, I just wanted to get it out of the way before the finals. There's more important things coming up than some old guy retiring.

"Questions are answered now, and it's all done with, so we can just move on as a group."

Cats coach Chris Scott again stated that Mooney is likely, but not certain, to play in the finals.

"It's a little bit of a sad day because he's been such a huge contributor to the Geelong footy club, but it's also exciting because he's got an opportunity to contribute to some success at the end of the year for us," Scott said.

"It's by no means guaranteed [he will play finals], but whatever happens from here, he will go down as one of the most passionate and competitive Geelong people of all time."

Mooney is desperate to be part of Geelong's push to win its third premiership in five seasons.

"The body is as good now as it has been in about 18 months," Mooney said. "Five or six weeks ago I wasn't saying that.

"I'm confident that at my best I'm still a good enough player to play [in the finals].

"I've slowed down a bit. That happens. But I still think I'm good enough to play at this level, and hopefully the big fella up the back (Chris Scott) will give me the chance."

Mooney has battled a chronic knee problem this year, and played five games and kicked 19 goals in the VFL during the middle part of the season in an attempt to be fit for the finals.

He returned to the senior side for the round 19 clash with Melbourne, kicking five goals in the first half as the Cats beat the Demons by 186 points.

A week later, Mooney booted 3.3 in Geelong's 150-point win over Gold Coast.

He booted one goal and collected 10 possessions in the Cats' 11-point win over Adelaide at AAMI Stadium in round 21, but was later cited by the match review panel for a high bump on Graham Johncock.

The subsequent one-match suspension has denied him a home-ground farewell when Geelong takes on the Sydney Swans at Skilled Stadium on Saturday.

"It's pretty devastating, very devastating actually. The whole plan was to do this today and then play on the weekend and give everyone a nice clap and say thankyou," Mooney said.

"Unfortunately the suspension reared its ugly head again and cost me that."

Nevertheless, Mooney hopes he can enjoy a fairytale end to his career by winning a fourth premiership on the first Saturday in October.

"Unfortunately we saw first-hand Shane Crawford get his [in the 2008 grand final] and hopefully I can be the next 'Crawf' and get mine," he said.

"I think there's maybe a couple of other boys who may be doing this in a couple of weeks, so it would be nice if a few of us went out with another one."

Mooney has played 229 games and kicked 297 goals since making his debut with the Kangaroos in 1999.

"After 15 years, it's been an amazing ride - very up and down," Mooney said. "The start of my career, I look back on it and think, 'How did I last so long?'

"But here we are 15 years later. I'm quite fortunate and very proud to be at a football club that I absolutely love and adore.

"It hasn't been too hard [to make the decision] to be honest. The body has said to me it's had enough, so it's been easy on that side of things.

"But I'll miss being around here every day. It's the greatest job in the world, it really is, and it's the most amazing environment that you could ever be involved in.

"We have a lot of fun down here. We have a lot of mucking around, a lot of joking, but we work very hard as well.

"So it's just an amazing life and I would encourage any young boy to just work his butt off to get to a football club.

"And if you're lucky you'll get to the Geelong footy club because it's just the greatest environment you could ever be in."