![Marrar will be without midfielder Chris O'Donnell next year after a move to Sydney. Picture by Emma Hillier Marrar will be without midfielder Chris O'Donnell next year after a move to Sydney. Picture by Emma Hillier](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/8tYDWUpBiaA8SfdG6xkddz/94acfe7e-4a2d-42ce-a17d-f473f012079b.jpg/r0_0_3691_2461_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
MARRAR will begin their quest to return to the top of the Farrer League without hardened midfielder Chris O'Donnell next season.
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O'Donnell has made the move to Sydney with his partner and has no plans of playing any football at all next year.
O'Donnell injured his knee in the opening minutes of Marrar's second semi-final loss to The Rock-Yerong Creek and missed the Bombers' preliminary final loss to Northern Jets.
The 29-year-old will have knee surgery next month to repair torn meniscus and ruptured plicka and believes his playing days are done.
"I'm done and dusted now," O'Donnell said.
"I've got to have an operation on my knee on the 15th of December. That's six weeks non-weight bearing.
"I think I've got to a stage where I'm content with what I've achieved.
"Playing again just presents some challenges that I don't need."
O'Donnell, a talented rugby junior, played in two Marrar premierships (2017 and 2022) among his 62 first grade games at the Bombers.
He had his first stint at the club as a teenager when travelling back from Sydney. He burst onto the scene during the 2012 finals series, where the Bombers eventually bowed out in a preliminary final loss to Temora.
O'Donnell then travelled to be apart of Marrar's campaign in 2016-17, then again from 2019 after he moved home.
He said he'll miss playing footy.
"Absolutely. It's been a huge part of who I am, my identity I guess as well," he said.
"I'll probably miss the training. The training and being around the boys. Playing football, being a good teammate, those sorts of things.
"Those are the sort of things I prided myself on, being a good teammate I guess.
"I'll definitely jump out of bed on Sundays a bit easier than times gone by. There will be other things it will enable me to do now so it's not all doom and gloom.
"I did sort of think I might have an identity crisis for a point because I've played footy since I was seven. I am looking forward to the future but I certainly will miss playing."
While always talented, O'Donnell took his game to a new level over the past couple of seasons, highlighted by his selection in the Farrer League Team of the Year in 2021.
The last couple of seasons he's been part of Marrar's leadership group and one of the tougher midfielders in the Farrer League.
He's happy with what he's done but looks at it more from a team perspective.
"I'm proud of what I've achieved but I'm more proud of what we were able to achieve as a team," he said.
"I think when you've got everyone on the same page trying to achieve a common goal, those individual achievements aren't the priority, they're all nice on paper but having a pair of premiership medals, or one now, it's good because no one can ever take that away from you.
"You'll always have premiership teammates and you'll always be a premiership player at a club where you've grown up and around I guess.
"It's a good thing that I'll look back on in a few years time when I've got my own family and what not, to say you're a premiership player at a club that you've got strong ties to."
O'Donnell's departure is the first blow to the Bombers this off-season after welcoming on board Jake Browm, Lachlan O'Callaghan and Mitch Ryan.