Richmond coach Damien Hardwick was unable to convince Daniel Jackson to reverse a decision to retire just two days before their elimination final.
Jackson was called into the Tigers' extended squad for their Sunday showdown with Port Adelaide but less than 24 hours later, he decided to call it quits.
In a letter to club supporters, Jackson said injuries led him to believe it would be best for himself and the club to retire.
"Unfortunately, after 11 years of scrapping and grinding, my body hasn't got any fight left," he wrote.
"I didn't want to leave myself in a position where I spent my final time as a footballer, not being able to perform to a level that I'd expect of myself and, more importantly, to a level that the footy club needs from me."
Richmond football boss Dan Richardson said he wasn't shocked by the decision, even if the outside world was.
"We've been aware of his challenges this year trying to get his body right," he said.
"Obviously there's physical and also mental challenges with that ... in the end that got the better of him."
Jackson played every match during the club's breakout 2013 season, winning the Jack Dyer medal.
But hip and glute injuries restricted Jackson's 2014 season to just 10 AFL games, with Richardson saying a lower back complaint had added to his woes.
Richardson said discussions between Hardwick, himself and the 28-year-old on Friday morning could not change Jackson's mind.
"Damien and I - and I'm sure there were others - had a word to him," he said.
"What you try to do in this situation is just make sure players understand once you make a call like this, there's no going back.
"Talking to him this morning ... you could see in his eyes he was comfortable with the call."
If the circumstances are unusual and the timing even more so, there's no doubting the difficulty behind the decision.
Richardson said Jackson addressed the playing group this morning.
"There was some emotion in the room, no doubt about that ... Dan was certainly really emotional," he said.
"Once he'd made his mind up, rather than try and keep it under our hats and him making out everything was OK, we thought it better to confront it and make the call now."
A club media officer said Jackson was too emotional to speak to media today and was unlikely to before Sunday's elimination final.
Jackson adds his name to a vintage group of AFL retirements this year, including Dean Cox, Lenny Hayes, Nick Maxwell, Luke Ball and Jonathan Brown.
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