Four-time Hawthorn premiership player Luke Hodge has announced he will retire from football at the end of the 2017 AFL season, despite the fact that his body and mind still feel "really good".
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Hodge, who will play his 300th AFL game on Saturday against Geelong at the MCG, made the announcement on Monday afternoon at the Hawks' Ricoh Centre base at Waverley Park.
"Walking in here as a 17-year-old and playing 16 years you learn a lot," a visibly emotional Hodge said. "You make a lot of mistakes but I think the main thing is that you learn from them.
"I think it [retiring] is the best thing for the footy club and myself. It's weird because mentally, I think that would have been the first to go, but I am still loving football, still really enjoying it.
"My body still feels good but what I have realised over the last month is the development of our younger guys, a lot through injury that we have had … they've really taken steps.
"If I play on next year I'll be taking the spot of a younger guy and as a senior bloke I would never want to do that.
The No.1 pick in the 2001 national draft, Hodge won premierships in 2008, 2013, 2014 and 2015. He captained Hawthorn through their 2013-2015 premiership "three-peat".
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Alastair Clarkson, Hodge's coach since 2005, said it had been a privileged to work with a "once-in-a-generation" player like the 33-year-old from Colac.
"It's been a pretty fascinating journey that Hodgey has had at our football club," Clarkson said.
"I don't think there was a position he didn't play in his 16-year career … the most significant thing he has contributed to our footy club and its success has been the sacrificial manner in which he has gone about it.
"He has always put his teammates and his footy club ahead of himself.
"He's put more time and effort into his body for the past four year than anybody on our list.
"He has benefited from that, but so has our footy club."
Clarkson said the example Hodge had set in his 16 year career would live on at the football club for many years to come.
Hodge won the Norm Smith Medal for best afield in the 2008 and 2014 grand finals and was an All Australian on three occasions (2005, 2008, 2010).
His wife Lauren, who he thanked, and three children were at the announcement.
"Football is a rollercoaster and you've been through some massive highs and some massive lows … I am looking forward to family holidays," he said.
"I have been talking with my family for a while [about retiring]."
Hodge signed a one year contract extension with the Hawks in August 2016.
Fellow veterans Shaun Burgoyne and Josh Gibson signed one-year extensions at the same time but their 2018 plans remain unclear.
Hawthorn moved on veterans Sam Mitchell and Jordan Lewis at the end of the 2016 season.
"We have had discussions [about my retirement] from when we signed a contract last year that if everything went the way we planned it this would be the last year because we knew we had a lot of younger guys that were ready to stand up," Hodge said.
"I think the last month has really locked it in."
Hodge said he had enjoyed coaching and working in the media in the past but said he had not decided on how his post-football career would look.
He took over the Hawks captaincy from Sam Mitchell in 2010 and then relinquished it to Jarryd Roughead at the start of the 2017 season.
"I think I have changed [leadership styles] I think I have mellowed a lot in the past few years.
"You understand where the younger guys are coming from and that ranting and raving doesn't always get the best result."
On his reputation as a hardman who would occasionally cross the line on the football field, Hodge said his passion for football had always fuelled him.
"I'm definitely a passionate person about football, I love my footy, but I would do anything for the football club and anything for the team to have success," Hodge said.
"I know there are a few supporters from other clubs that might have a different opinion of me, but that comes with footy.
"I will do anything for my football club and sometimes that means crossing the line, and I know that's not the best part, but I've been able to achieve here at the football club a lot that a lot of other teams haven't been able to, and I'm proud of that."