Richmond utility Ricky Petterd has announced his retirement from AFL football, effective immediately.

Petterd, who joined the Tigers via the league’s rookie draft at the end of 2012, following a six-season career with Melbourne, suffered a serious foot injury in the Round 2 loss to the Western Bulldogs this year.

He underwent surgery and, despite working diligently throughout his rehabilitation program, has been unable to recover sufficiently to return to the playing field.

The severe nature of the injury, and subsequent difficulties he encountered in a bid to regain full fitness, has forced Petterd into making the decision to retire at just 27 years of age.

“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 played 30 senior games for Richmond after being promoted from the rookie list.

He was a valuable contributor for the Tigers due to his versatility, mobility, marking ability and courage.

Last year, Petterd averaged nearly 18 disposals per game in 17 appearances, and he kicked 12 goals.

Petterd becomes the fourth Richmond player to announce his retirement in the past four weeks, joining Nathan Foley, Chris Newman and Chris Knights.