The 208-game player has called time on his AFL career following an ankle injury.
Collingwood premiership captain Nick Maxwell has called time on his AFL career.
Maxwell was due to retire at the end of the season, however an ankle injury sustained during the Magpies’ 63-point loss to Essendon has brought a premature end to the defender’s career.
The 31-year-old said the injury confirmed that after 14 seasons and 208 matches, his body could take no more.
“As I said to the boys, I’ve got nothing left,” Maxwell said.
“I suppose, that’s a good way to go out. Knowing that there was nothing more I could have done or given.
“I didn’t know that I would play one game, and for a time it looked as if I wouldn’t, so to look back now and know that I shared in something so special…I have no regrets.
“It would have been nice to play out the season but if I look at the big picture, I can’t complain. I’m completely content to have played for so long, made so many friends, met so many fans and enjoyed so many rich experiences.
“Playing for Collingwood changed my life.”
Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley urged Maxwell to consider a leadership role when the two played together.
“It was obvious quite early in ‘Maxy’s’ his career that he carried in him a lot of the virtues that we hold dear as a club – excellence, discipline, relentlessness, community and remaining side by side,” Buckley said.
“Every one of his team-mates, past and present, would have a story about how ‘Maxy’ helped them in some way, of how he gave everything he had and inspired them to do the same. And the fans saw it in his play on match day, too.
“It’s easy to love a bloke like that.”
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