I HAD a strange feeling hopping onto the plane ahead of our match with Geelong a few weeks ago. As I loaded my bags into the overhead lockers, I couldn’t help but think that I was missing something.
It's a sense I'm sure a lot of people have when they go away, and I had a nagging feeling that I had forgotten to pack something important.
As I settled into my seat and the plane set off on its ascent, I figured out what it was I was missing.
It wasn't my toothbrush or football boots that I had forgotten to bring – it was the fact that Peter Bell wasn't on the flight.
Of my 190 games, we played 165 together, which is a pretty significant figure considering Peter was still at North Melbourne when I played the first 18 games of my career.
Peter's triumphs on the footy field defied logic. Standing at just 175cm, Peter was a footballer who could not run extremely quickly, jump really high and he doesn't resemble the modern-day prototype for the athletic footballer.
What he did have in spades, however, was a huge aerobic capacity and an unrelenting will and desire to succeed.
It was this gritty mental capacity, along with his great sense of humour, which made him such a valuable commodity to have around the football club.
But the sum of Peter is not just his deeds on the footy field. Nowhere near it.
Born in 1976 to a Korean mother and an American father, Peter's future of 286 AFL games (a record for a West Australian) was another world away.
By chance, at around the same time of his birth, a couple from the peaceful WA country town of Kojonup decided to visit Korea with the intention of adopting a child.
From this point, Peter's life was to follow a much different path to that of which he could have become accustomed to if he remained in Asia.
As well as building a tremendous reputation in the AFL, Peter also completed a law degree and it is with these qualifications, his experience as president of the AFLPA and general business acumen, that ensures his future post-football is more than secure.
Looking back on his career, Peter can rest very comfortably knowing he got the best out of himself.
Read just a handful of his accomplishments – two-time premiership player with North Melbourne, two-time All-Australian and four-time best and fairest (Doig Medal) winner with Fremantle. That's a record that sits comfortably among any of the game's greats.
He could have played this year out, but instead has given other players an opportunity to prove themselves in what is an important period in their careers. His full attention is now on his family and with that I wish him the best.
A true professional, champion person and player, he will be almost impossible to replace.
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the club.
Fremantle Football Club will celebrate the career of Peter Bell in a special pre-match tribute at the Fremantle-St Kilda clash at Subiaco on Sunday, commencing at 2.30pm WST.
