Fremantle's Luke Webster has stood down from the club, saying he will not be asking the Dockers to extend his contract for another season.
The 26-year-old utility has suffered a horrible run of luck since making his debut in 2003, enduring three knee reconstructions and only managing 33 matches for the club.
Despite undergoing the revolutionary synthetic ligament knee reconstruction similar to Sydney's Nick Malceski, Webster suffered extra complications and couldn't make it back into the Dockers side, despite returning to training just 91 days after the initial injury.
And, as the club looks to pursue a youth policy in this season's draft, Webster said he knew his time at Fremantle was coming to an end.
"In talking with Harvs (coach Mark Harvey), obviously the club is going in a bit of a different direction with the young boys coming through and they want to obviously get as many young guys to the club as possible, that was one of the major factors," said Webster.
"My body hasn't allowed me to play much footy over the last year and a half, so that was another factor."
"(But) I've cherished every moment I've had at the club and (I'm) very thankful for all the support they've given me over the years."
"Unfortunately it's not going to continue past this year but we'll just wait and see for other options with footy and we'll go from there," he said, adding that playing for another club was a small possibility if the opportunity arose.
Webster admitted there'd been many disappointments but said he was determined to be positive.
"(It's) pretty disappointing but, as I said to the boys this morning, I was lucky enough to play 33 games and to get the most out of my body for what I could do, and I was really happy to do that," Webster said.
"So, although there were a lot of lows in my career, all the highs that I've had - I've played in three out of the four finals the club's been in - and I can pretty much say I've done everything right and got through to the high points of the game."
Harvey said Webster was so highly rated at the club he was included in the player's leadership group despite his limited appearances.
"To see him fight back through three reconstructions, it will certainly hold him in good stead for life after football ... the mental toughness, he never carried himself like a guy who'd been through that," Harvey said.
"You didn't have to ride him about anything about preparation or mental toughness, because he already had it."
Webster becomes the sixth Docker to leave the club this season after Matthew Carr, Peter Bell, Shaun McManus, Heath Black and Mark Johnson all announced their retirements.
And although Harvey acknowledged the club is heading in a new direction by focussing on youth, he added it had been difficult for him seeing so many careers end during his watch.
"It's not an easy time, you sit down and you talk to the player about a lot of things. When you come to the decision it's always a sad time for the football club, for them personally," he said.
"Careers that I can see, like Luke's for instance, that get cut short through injury more so than anything, you don't like to see that, you like to see players play to their full potential and not have any hurdles like Luke had, but you have to move on."