Scott Lycett has reflected on his decision to hang up the boots following 146 AFL games.
The ruckman won a premiership with West Coast in 2018 where he played 75 games, before moving to Port Adelaide in 2019 and playing 71 games prior to retiring.
Lycett says the main reason behind his decision to call it quits was due to the state of his body, with doctors stunned the 31-year-old played 14 games in 2023 after assessing his knees.
“I’m retired,” Lycett confirmed on SEN SA’s The Run Home.
“I’ll still play somewhere, but just for fun.
“The last couple of years were pretty well documented with how many injuries I’ve had.
“The advice from doctors, they’re not quite sure how I’ve been able to keep playing with my knees, they’re pretty amazed.
“I suppose that was a pretty big indication for me.
“I should be starting to run pretty soon but I’m struggling to get out of cars and stuff at the moment with my knees and feeling quite sore.
“It’s unfortunate, but it catches up to everyone.”
While Lycett stepped away from an AFL career, that wasn’t due to a lack of opportunity whatsoever.
The ruckman revealed that he met with coaches at rival clubs but ultimately decided to put his health first.
“I had the opportunity to keep playing elsewhere,” Lycett said.
“But just with the body and where I’m at with my life … I’ve moved a lot of times in my life and I guess I put my happiness and my health first.
“There were a couple of clubs that were pretty interested and I had a medical and chat with a couple of coaches.
“I just wanted to put my happiness first and my health long-term especially … I definitely have to think of the future.”
All of St Kilda, Geelong and Collingwood were linked to Lycett this off-season and the ruckman confirmed those clubs showed interest while he also completed a medical at Melbourne before opting not to pursue any of those paths.
“Yeah, they (those three clubs) showed a little bit of interest,” Lycett said.
“I had a medical with Melbourne pretty early in the off-season, they were pretty happy, to be honest, that’s what they told me anyway.
“But as I said before, once you hit 30, especially as a ruckman with the amount of surgeries that I’ve had … I’m not the same player as I used to be.
“It was hard. But I think I’m happy with the call.”
As well as interest from Victorian clubs, Lycett says there was an option for him to remain at Port Adelaide.
The ruckman simply didn’t feel the club’s offer was worth it for the potential damage he could keep doing to his body.
“They offered me a deal at some stage of the year, but it wasn’t great,” Lycett said.
“I basically said, ‘I’d rather just work at another job and earn that kind of money in a couple of years than play on for another year and put my body through that’, I suppose.
“If it was money that obviously I couldn’t say no to then, who knows? I probably would have considered it.
“But it was, just one of those deals where it’s like I’ve got to make sure that my health is all right and ultimately that’s how it played out.”
Lycett retired with 61 goals to his name from his 146 games and was selected in the All Stars side for the 2020 State of Origin for Bushfire Relief match.