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St Kilda legend Nick Riewoldt has shed light on what he believes would have been an "agonising" decision from Nathan Murphy to retire due to concussion issues, praising the former Collingwood defender for the call.
Murphy announced his retirement on Tuesday after getting advice from the AFL's medical concussion panel on a head knock he suffered in last year's grand final.
The 24-year-old's retirement followed that of Melbourne's Angus Brayshaw in February, after the Demons star was similarly advised against continuing his career due to repeated concussions.
Riewoldt said both players' decisions are a sign the AFL is moving into a new era where there is less emphasis on players putting themselves in danger on the field and more emphasis on safety instead.
"I guess it's a reflection of just how far this movement, if you want to call it that, has come," he told Footy Talk on LiSTNR.
"I'd love to have been a fly on the wall and sat in on some of those conversations and understood just how adamant the medical professionals were, and whether they still left the call up to Nathan Murphy.
"My sense would be that he's been a little bit reluctant to come to terms with it, so the advice would have been really, really strong.
"Hopefully more [of] that message starts ringing through. So, the conversations we're having around contesting the footy headfirst start to become less relevant and important because players are just adapting."
Riewoldt was renowned for his courage during his illustrious 336-game career with St Kilda.
He retired in 2017 as the all-time marks leader in VFL/AFL history, and perhaps his most famous mark was an example of his unrelenting attack on the football.
The Saints were up against Sydney in Round 11, 2004, when Riewoldt chased a kick from teammate Robert Harvey in the centre of the ground, running back with the flight of the ball and taking out teammate Stephen Milne as he took the chest mark.
Riewoldt's courage was lauded at the time and his mark is one of the most iconic in league history, but it's the type of play we're likely to see less and less in future generations.
That's not necessarily a bad thing.
While Murphy's decision to prioritise his post-football life seems straightforward to the everyday person, Riewoldt explained how tough such calls are for players, who often struggle to see the importance of having a productive life beyond their football careers.
"To sit here with the benefit of experience and being 40 and having a family and having all of those things — it’s a no-brainer, but not for the young guys in the moment," he said.
"I remember leading into some big games and getting injected to play in big games and you know, making comments like 'I don't care what the rest of my life looks like. I just want to get up and play this game'. I mean, when you're in it as a young man, it is agonising.
"Credit to them [Murphy and Brayshaw] because it's a brave call and they should be applauded for being pioneers of this sort of self-preservation movement if you like."
Essendon coach Brad Scott, who was the AFL's general manager of football prior to joining the Bombers at the end of 2022, said concussions were "priority number one" for the league during his tenure.
"I think it's been moving this way over a fairly long period of time," he said.
"It's obviously very sad news for [Murphy], he's been a really influential player, Angus [Brayshaw] as well. You don't like to see it happen to anyone.
"I've probably got a different vantage point to a lot of people. When I was at the AFL, concussion was the biggest issue in the game.
"The resources that are being poured into that space are significant and it's being treated as priority number one.
"I think that gives everyone in the game comfort that the best people are working on it. We just have a completely different attitude towards head knocks to what we did 20-30 years ago, which is a good thing. Probably 20-30 years ago, these players wouldn't be retiring because the advice would've been just to push on.
"We know that footy's really important but your life after footy is more important."
Brayshaw and Murphy's retirements follow fellow recent concussion retirements of Hawthorn's Max Lynch, Adelaide's Paul Seedsman, and West Coast's Brad Sheppard.
While these calls have blindsided the AFL community, expect them to become more commonplace as the league continues to emphasise health over highlights.
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