Recently retired St Kilda defender Sam Fisher says he felt he had another year left in him, before he ultimately decided to retire.
Following the recruitment of Nathan Brown from Collingwood, the Saints opted not to offer Fisher a contract extension, with the 34-year-old then calling time on his 13-year, 228-game AFL career.
However, Fisher told SEN Radio on Friday that he could have gone in next season.
“Right throughout the year I probably said that I would have liked to have gone on one more just depending on how my body sort of held up,” Fisher said.
“Knowing that Jake Carlisle was coming into the team next year, I thought maybe with him playing on the big monsters rather than myself, I could have probably gotten back and played my role a bit more which may have helped a little bit.
“My hammies sort of let me down through the back half of the year so yeah, just decided to call it a day and with the Saints coming to get Nathan Brown as well, that made my life a little bit tougher in getting a new year’s contract.”
Fisher was recruited with pick No.55 in the 2003 National Draft, and played both the Saints' losing grand finals of 2010 and 2011.
The Saints lost grand finals in 2009 and 2010. Collingwood played Geelong in 2011.