Adam Cooney has announced his retirement, joining unwanted yet esteemed company in winning the AFLs highest individual honour but not a premiership.The Essendon midfielder said on Tuesday the 2016 season would be his last, fittingly confirming his future before a milestone match against former club Western Bulldogs.Cooney was taken with pick No.1 in the 2003 draft and won the 2008 Brownlow medal.But a degenerative knee injury meant he never hit those highs again, even after seeking a fresh start with the Bombers in 2014.Preliminary final losses in 2008 and 2009 are the closest Cooney came to pocketing a premiership medallion.Pretty unsatisfied. Its bittersweet I suppose, Cooney said on the eve of his 250th match.Early on when I won the Brownlow I was only 22 and I injured my knee, I probably wasnt able to play the sort of footy that I wanted to after that.You play footy to win a premiership. Its a little bit disappointing to not be able to play in a premiership.Cooney featured in 219 games for the Bulldogs and at his best was one of the leagues most influential players, burning sides with his speed and skill.The 30-year-old remains close with many former teammates at Whitten Oval.It seems a fitting tribute to be able to play against the Dogs this week to celebrate not only my 250-game milestone but also celebrate the career I have enjoyed at both clubs, he said.Im looking forward to the opportunity to also say thank you to the fans from both clubs who have showed me enormous support.Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge was full of respect for Cooney, saying the on-baller had enjoyed a great career.Well acknowledge that after the game and send him out on a good note, Beveridge said.Cooney contemplated returning for the 2017 season but recent performances convinced him otherwise.Halfway through this year I was actually playing some OK footy and was weighing up whether to go on, he said.But towards the end of the season I probably started to slow down. It would probably have been a little bit selfish of me to decide that I wanted to play on.Bombers coach John Worsfold lauded Cooneys leadership during the clubs difficult 2016 campaign, when 12 senior players have been suspended.Adams experience, leadership and team care has been really vital, Worsfold said.ADAM COONEYS AFL CAREER* Draft history: Pick No.1, 2003 National Draft* AFL Debut: Round 1, 2004 against West Coast at Etihad Stadium* Bombers Debut: Round 1, 2015 against Sydney at ANZ Stadium* AFL Games: 249* Brownlow Medal: 2008* All Australian: 2008. Shaquille ONeal Jersey . -- The plastic that was taped across the lockers in Oaklands clubhouse came down and the champagne that was on ice went back into the cooler. Chris Bosh Jersey .com) - The women will also have a new champion at the Australian Open. https://www.heatlockerroom.com/Glen-Rice-City-Edition-Jersey/ . Parker had 26 points and eight assists and San Antonio beat Toronto 112-99 Monday night. 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TOKYO -- The head of the international rowing federation wants to stick with his sports planned venue for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics rather than move to a site hundreds of miles (kilometers) outside the city.World Rowing president Jean-Christophe Rolland said Monday he was surprised and disappointed by a city government panels recommendation to relocate the venue to save money.Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike ordered a review of venues and costs by a panel of independent experts. A preliminary report Friday warned of soaring costs and proposed using existing venues for rowing, swimming and volleyball instead of building new ones.I was very surprised ... to hear about a possible change, and not to say more, a little bit disappointed, Rolland told reporters in Tokyo, where he was on a scheduled visit. We made a full in-depth review of all the possibilities, and the outcome of this is that the Sea Forest is the best solution.Rolland said he visited the originally proposed venue, called Umi no Mori (Sea Forest), earlier Monday and felt confident that it remained the best site for the competition.For me, there is no doubt this is absolutely suitable for the sport of rowing, he said.Koike, who met with Rolland later Monday, said cost-cutting is key to Tokyos broader reforms and she planned to review the Olympic venues. She noted that the games were originally intended to help Japans northern region, including Fukushima, recover from the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.Any further changes to the venues will require approval of the sports federations and the International Olympic Committee.What we know is that iin general the costs for construction have been rising not only for Olympic projects, but for many different reasons, in particular because of the reconstruction which has to happen in Japan because of Fukushima, IOC President Thomas Bach said during a visit to Paris.dddddddddddd So we will discuss this in a constructive way with the organizing committee.Tokyos report recommended an existing venue about 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of Tokyo as a cheaper option to the rowing site in Tokyo, where the latest cost estimate for renovations has risen to seven times its initial projections. While organizers hope to make the venue a future mecca of rowing, the report calls it groundless because of Japans small rowing communities and their lack of incentives to relocate to Tokyo.The alternative existing venues for the other two sports are in the Tokyo area.Organizing committee deputy director Yukihiko Nunomura reassured Rolland that the venue included in the initial bid is the one approved by all concerned parties.Nunomura said Japanese and IOC officials, including coordination commission chairman John Coates, had an emergency teleconference Friday to discuss Tokyos cost-cutting proposals. Coates raised concerns about relocating venues too far away from the athletes village, Kyodo News said.---AP Sports Writer Samuel Petrequin in Paris contributed.--Follow Mari Yamaguchi at https://www.twitter.com/mariyamaguchiFind her work also at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/mari-yamaguchi ' ' '