Richmond coach Damien Hardwick was unable to convince Daniel Jackson to reverse a decision to retire just two days before their elimination final.

Jackson had been called into the Tigers’ extended squad for their Sunday showdown with Port Adelaide but, less than 24 hours later, he decided to call it quits.

Richmond football boss Dan Richardson said the midfielder had lost a battle with injuries, ending an 11-year stay at Punt Road.

Richardson said he wasn’t shocked by the decision, even if the outside world was.

“We’ve been aware of his challenges this year trying to get his body right,” he said.

“Obviously there’s physical and also mental challenges with that … in the end that got the better of him.”

A statement on the club website said hip and glute injuries restricted Jackson’s season to just 10 AFL games, with Richardson saying a lower back complaint had added to his woes.

He said discussions between Hardwick, himself and the 28-year-old could not change Jackson’s mind.

“Damien and I – and I’m sure there were others – had a word to him,” he said.

“What you try to do in this situation is just make sure players understand once you make a call like this, there’s no going back.

“Talking to him this morning … you could see in his eyes he was comfortable with the call.”

If the circumstances are unusual and the timing even more so, there’s no doubting the difficulty behind the decision.

Richardson said Jackson addressed the playing group this morning.

“There was some emotion in the room, no doubt about that … Dan was certainly really emotional,” he said.

“Once he’d made his mind up, rather than try and keep it under out hats and him making out everything was OK, we thought it better to confront it and make the call now.”

Jackson played every match during the club’s breakout 2013 season, winning the Jack Dyer medal.

A club media officer said Jackson was too emotional to speak to media today and was unlikely to before Sunday’s elimination final.

Jackson adds his name to a vintage group of AFL retirements this year, including Dean Cox, Lenny Hayes, Nick Maxwell, Luke Ball and Jonathan Brown.