Garrick Ibbotson Biography

Garrick Ibbotson makes the surprise decision to retire at the end of the 2017 season.

The 29-year-old was coming out of contract this year and seemingly faced an uncertain future after being dropped to Peel after the Dockers' 100-point round-10 loss to Adelaide.

However, he broke the news to his teammates that he will hang up the boots after the Thunder's WAFL finals campaign.

"When you are looking at guys faces and telling them you are going to be out the door next year, it was never going to be easy," Ibbotson said.

"But as hard as it is to leave a football club, I think it’s the right time for me and I am happy with my decision."

Garrick Ibbotson will miss up to a month after suffering a wrist injury in Fremantle's clash against St Kilda.

"He seemed to play out the game OK, but after the flight the next morning in medical review it had swelled up and was quite painful," sports science manager Jason Weber said.

"It was reviewed and he has a small fracture in his wrist so it’s going to be a couple of weeks to get it right."

Garrick Ibbotson is confident his recent shoulder surgery will solve the injury problems that blighted his 2014 season.

"I obviously haven't got through the full recovery yet but so far so good," Ibbotson said.

"I'll be out of contact work for a little while, but I'll be into some footy drills hopefully next week."

Ibbotson says dealing with injuries over the last two seasons has been challenging.

"It's a little bit frustrating," he said.

"Obviously you can't control injury a lot of the time with footy, and that's just part of the game. Everybody goes through it.

"I've just had a bit of a rough time in the last couple of years, but hopefully I'm out the other end."

Garrick Ibbotson could miss multiple weeks with a calf injury, continuing a horror injury run for the 26-year-old.

Garrick Ibbotson will no longer play a part in Fremantle's finals campaign after undergoing surgery on his Achilles tendon.

The 25-year-old defender was a late withdrawal from the Dockers' round 19 clash with Carlton but despite ongoing attempts to return to the field the soreness never abated.

Garrick Ibbotson says he needs to step up his game this year to help release the burden on Fremantle superstars like Matthew Pavlich.

"Pavlich, Sandilands and [David] Mundy are going to be really consistent all year round, but it's the next few guys down where we're going to find our improvement," Ibbotson said.

"I'd like to either step into a midfield role or really perform a bit better than I did last year as a defender."

Garrick Ibbotson is set for a spell on the sidelines after suffering a suspected dislocated shoulder in a marking contest against Essendon.

Fremantle's Garrick Ibbotson says he feels like an older member of the team despite just being 21 and in only his second year at the club.

"When we're on the field it does feel like I've moved up a bit as far as experience goes," Ibbotson said.

"But I'm only 21 and this is only my second year playing football properly.

"I suppose looking around I do feel a little bit older, but I do still think that I'm a young player in the team."

Fremantle midfielder Garrick Ibbotson says his young side isn't scared of anyone after giving premiership fancy Geelong a mighty fright at Subiaco Oval on Sunday.

"Obviously losing isn't great, but Geelong are the best, and in the second half of the season we want to test ourselves against the best and see how we go," Ibbotson said.

"We're not really scared of any team. We have belief we can win every game, and today we played well.

"Knowing a team is the best in the competition, I think that can cause teams to be a little bit wary knowing that Geelong are going to hurt them if they turn the ball over.

"But we just wanted to play our own game style and see how we went."

Young Fremantle tagger Garrick Ibbotson took a lot out of his clash with Carlton captain Chris Judd on Saturday night.

Ibbotson tallied 23 touches while opposed to the Carlton captain who notched 28 disposals and a goal.

"I wanted to try and get a bit of the ball myself," Ibbotson said.

"I had a focus of starting with Judd and playing on him but at the same time I wanted to be able to make sure that I could try and get some of the ball myself and not just be 100 per cent committed to working with him."

Fremantle young gun Garrick Ibbotson says the Bulldogs taught his side a lesson in efficiency on Sunday.