Foot injury forces Tiger Petterd to retire at just 27afl.com.au
September 3, 2015 2:13 PMA SERIOUS foot injury has forced Richmond utility Ricky Petterd to announce his immediate retirement.
The 27-year-old had surgery earlier this year after suffering the injury in the round two loss to the Western Bulldogs and has been unable to recover sufficiently to return to the field.
Petterd retires after 84 games across nine season with Melbourne and the Tigers.
"I had pondered it for a while now, even before the foot injury. At the start of the year I was thinking whether it was going to be my last year or not," he said.
"It hasn't healed as well as we thought it was going to. I ran for the first time on the weekend, and it pulled up pretty ginger again, so that was kind of the last straw for me.
"The docs and the physios were doing everything right to get it there, but it's just not going as quick as we thought.
"To get the opportunity to be in the system for nine years, I consider myself very lucky."
Petterd joined the Tigers as a rookie at the end of 2012 after six seasons at the Demons.
He impressed 2013 and enjoyed his career-best season last year before injury derailed his 2015 campaign.
http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-09-03/foot-injury-forces-tiger-petterd-to-retire-at-just-27
