Brisbane Lions' chairman Tony Kelly says he tried to talk Leigh Matthews out of his decision to quit as the club's coach with a year still remaining on his contract.
Matthews told the Lions' boss of his shock decision on Sunday and Kelly admitted on Monday that he was hoping the club's most successful coach would change his mind.
"I asked him about 10 times 'are you sure, are you sure?' for my own satisfaction but he was quite positive," Kelly said of Matthews' determination to quit his position.
Kelly said Matthews 'seems to be at peace with his decision and why shouldn't he be'.
"He steps down completely on his own terms and his 10 years as senior coach has become the defining tenure of the Brisbane Lions Football Club," Kelly said.
Kelly said Matthews' contribution to the club could not just be measured by the fact he led the club to three successive premierships in 2001-03 - making Brisbane the first club to achieve that feat since Melbourne in 1957.
"He was the complete package for the Brisbane Lions," he said of the man who took over as coach at the end of 1998 with the Lions on the bottom of the ladder.
"He was a strong leader, strong on discipline, had a powerful work ethic, was a manager and a teacher and had an insatiable appetite to win."
"He was also fair and honest and he created the environment for the development of our players into a hard-edged premiership combination."
Kelly said Matthews would leave the game as not only one of the greatest coaches ever - having already been acclaimed as one of the best players ever during his 332-game career at Hawthorn - but would also be remembered for having done more to grow the game in Queensland than anyone else.
"His contribution to AFL in our developing market of Queensland has been outstanding," he said.
"I know of no other person who is as passionate about his job and the industry he is in - he lives and breathes AFL football and he loved his team and the players but he didn't suffer timid efforts."
Kelly said Matthews would be awarded life membership of the club at the Lions' best and fairest count in October.
The Lions' chairman said the club would hold a board meeting on Monday night to begin discussions as to who should succeed Matthews, with the club's premiership captain from 2001-03 Michael Voss the hot favourite.
Voss has reportedly already sought permission from West Coast chief executive Trevor Nisbett to speak to the Lions - even though he has only just recently signed a two-year deal to become an assistant coach to John Worsfold at the Eagles - having already knocked back the chance of being the first coach of the new Gold Coast club.
"We need to act quickly and decisively," Kelly said of trying to find someone to step into Matthews' huge shoes.
"But I am not speculating on any names - today is all about Leigh Matthews - and I'm sure when I pick up the papers tomorrow I will see a list of all the candidates."