![Josh Bruce through the years. The Canberra junior played at the Giants, St Kilda and the Bulldogs. Pictures Marina Neil, Jay Cronan, Adam Trafford Josh Bruce through the years. The Canberra junior played at the Giants, St Kilda and the Bulldogs. Pictures Marina Neil, Jay Cronan, Adam Trafford](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/j2iwCiKfwhVWJky39Vsdpt/d5d6c6c1-d7a3-4d8c-ac0b-7fb903a6c9dc.png/r0_0_1200_675_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The easiest thing to do is focus on the heartbreak. Josh Bruce's AFL career is over.
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In the end it was injury woes that forced him to hang up the boots, announcing his decision to retire just weeks after his second knee reconstruction in two years.
It wasn't the way he wanted it to end. It wasn't the way anyone wanted it to end after the GWS Giants drafted him into the league in 2011.
But to look at the way it finished would be an injustice to everything else. Like forever being the answer to this trivia question: Who kicked the Giants' first goal at Manuka Oval?
That's right, it was Bruce in his AFL debut back in round five, 2012, after he was called up at the last minute as an injury replacement.
"It's unbelievable, the stars have aligned," Bruce told The Canberra Times after playing his first game in front of almost 10,000 fans at Manuka Oval. "A dream come true and I'm over the moon."
What about the time he kicked 10 goals in a game two years ago - the first Western Bulldog to achieve the feat since 1987?
"I had my critics last year and it was probably warranted," Bruce said after he walked off the field. "It's really pleasing to get a reward for the hard work I've put in."
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The 31-year-old officially called time on his playing days on Tuesday, ironically just 24 hours after another Canberra junior made the same decision. Phil Davis was the Giants' captain on the day Bruce made his AFL debut in the capital, and now they bow out in the same week.
For Bruce, it ends an 11-year, three club journey that finishes with 234 goals across 163 matches.
"I moved out of home at 17 to Sydney as a skinny, hyperactive little kid and I'm finishing here as a not-so-skinny, still hyperactive grown man, with two beautiful kids," Bruce said.
"I can rest my head on the pillow knowing that every gruelling pre-season session, every rehab session and every game at three clubs, I gave my absolute everything."
Bruce was in career-best form the year he kicked 10 goals in the game against Kangaroos, and the Bulldogs charged into the grand final. Bruce ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament just weeks before the finals started.
He kicked 48 goals that season to lead the Bulldogs, but his knee buckled in his 150th game and that was the end of his premiership dream. The Bulldogs lost that grand final and Bruce made his comeback late in 2022, but he only managed another 13 games before succumbing to injury again.
"I hope I finish with the respect of my peers and coaches for being a resilient, effort-based, hard-working teammate who never gave up for the team," Bruce said.
"The move to the Bulldogs has been one of the most defining moments of my life. I've got so many connections through Rohan Smith coaching me at under-16s level, living with Stewart Edge in my first year at GWS and time spent with Ameet Bains at St Kilda.
"It's fitting to finish up here and I look forward to exploring some coaching opportunities into the future."
And Bruce will always have his Canberra debut to look back on, when he was playing alongside controversial star Israel Folau.
"It [the goal] was all a bit of a blur really. I ran back to the contest where Izzy laid out about four of their blokes. The ball just bobbed up and I managed to snap it around my body. I'm not so good at the snap so I thought I was going to miss it," Bruce said at the time.
"But I kicked it and - excuse my French - but I lost my shit."
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