It's not the way they wanted to go and never the right time, but Richmond trio Kent Kingsley, Trent Knobel and Ray Hall have announced their retirement from AFL football.
Injuries played a significant factor in the decisions of all three, who were barely able to get on the field in 2007.
In Hall's case there's the added frustration being unable to play at all in 2007 because of a debilitating hip injury and finishing his career on 99 games for the Tigers.
But the versatile 26-year-old, who played in just about every position for Richmond during his nine seasons with the club, told the media at Punt Road on Tuesday that the decision was easy.
"It's sort of left me at the point where I have no choice - I can't play at this level or any level," Hall said.
"I'm certainly going to look back on this chapter of my life as a great time. I'm a better person now than when I started my footy and that's something I'm proud of.
"It's been enjoyable to find different challenges along the way. At times I played at full-back on the best forwards in the game … but it was good to be able to play in the midfield and run around and try and get a kick myself."
Coach Terry Wallace said Hall had been a popular figure around Tigerland while Knobel gave the team great drive in 2005 when he played 18 matches as the club's No.1 ruckman.
Knobel, 27, who like Hall, has been sidelined for the entire season after undergoing two bouts of ankle surgery, said he's keen to play again, most likely back at home on the Gold Coast.
"I'm very disappointed that it's been cut short with the ankle injury and it's been a very frustrating 18 months but in saying that I'm looking forward to the next chapter in my life and I'm thankful to the Richmond Football Club for throwing me a lifeline when they did," Knobel said.
Kingsley managed three senior games for the Tigers in 2007 after crossing from Geelong where he spent six seasons in a key forward role and, before that, the Kangaroos (1999-2000).
He suffered an early setback to his time at Tigerland with pre-season ankle surgery and never managed to catch up.
"It's been a frustrating year and I don’t think I could personally go through it again," Kingsley said.
"There's other things I want to do away