Swans great Jack joins the club's retirement queue
Kieren Jack has joined three other players from Sydney's 2012 AFL premiership-winning season by announcing his retirement from the game.
Jack, 32, looks set to play one final match, in the Swans' final-round clash with St Kilda at the SCG on Saturday afternoon, before hanging up his boots.
His decision to call time on his 14-year career means the Swans will be without four of their most accomplished and experienced players next season after former skipper Jarrad McVeigh and defenders Heath Grundy and Nick Smith also pulled the pin.
From the 22 that beat Hawthorn in the 2012 grand final, only three players - Josh Kennedy, Sam Reid and Luke Parker - will be at the club next year.
Jack, who served as Swans co-captain between 2013 and 2016, has notched 255 games to date. He will go down as one of the AFL's great success stories in NSW.
The son of rugby league icon Garry Jack, he only started playing Australian rules at 11 years old.
Picked up as a rookie by the Swans in 2005, Jack won the Bob Skilton Medal as Sydney's best and fairest player in 2010 and was named an All-Australian in 2013.
Swans coach John Longmire, who has admitted in the past he doubted Jack's ability to make it at the top level early in his career, gave him high praise in a statement released by the club.
"Kieren Jack’s story as a trailblazer for the code in this state cannot be underestimated. It would be reasonable to say that Kieren’s journey has done as much for the code’s development over the past 14 years as any person," Longmire said.
"He leaves the game in rare company with his achievements and highly respected inside and outside the code – but few people who witnessed Kieren Jack’s early games of Australian Rules Football would have predicted the magnificent career that was to follow.
"Standing 176cm, weighing 72kg and possessing a kick that didn’t travel far, the kid wearing jumper number 48 in the back pocket of the reserves had a few doubters when he first turned up at the end of 2005.
“However, what couldn’t immediately be seen was the incredible determination within and the amazing mix of speed and endurance qualities just under the surface. Kieren’s thirst for hard work was insatiable.
"He soaked up every bit of help from those who were invested and turned himself into one of the most elite two-way runners of his generation."