The story of Liam Picken is becoming an all too common reality for athletes around the world. Plagued with a lengthy recovery battle after a concussion in a pre-season game over a year ago, the 32-year-old Bulldogs legend decided to call it quits on his career for fear of doing irreparable damage.

Brought into the team in 2009 as a tagger, Picken slowly honed his skills as an attacking midfielder and produced a handful of stunning performances complimenting the forward pack in his career.

With an eight-year stint for the Bulldogs under his belt — highlighted by a stunning drought-breaking premiership year in 2016 — Picken will go down as one of the club’s greats.

Unfortunately, the star midfielder’s ongoing concussion symptoms stopped his career within two games of 200 appearances for the club.

Wife and blogger Annie Nolan posted a touching tribute to the footy great, highlighting his top 10 moments on the field on Twitter.

Nolan reflected on his epic Grand Final “specky”, the game he wore his shorts backwards and the time her husband “stayed up all night” with her to comfort her after her brother died, despite there being a game the following day.

But she added a sad footnote. “Unfortunately his knocks/concussions were also memorable,” Nolan wrote. “For how hard Liam played, I’m not at all surprised he was stretchered off from his final game rather than chaired off. But onwards and upwards, my love.”

My beautiful husband, @PickenLiam, retired from AFL today 💖 I thought I would recap my top 10 most memorable moments from his career 😊 ... — Uncanny Annie (@AnnieNNolan) April 1, 2019

1/10



I have to start with the obvious ... the 2016 Grand Final.

He took a specky (“Picken from behind”) kicked 3 goals (“the damn wall has busted”) and gave the iconic “full wingspan” shepherd! Incredible. pic.twitter.com/FSUdyK5HO3 — Uncanny Annie (@AnnieNNolan) April 1, 2019

2/10



Oh and of course the 2016 finals series of which he was awarded “Best Finals Player“ by the Doggies. T’was the best month - all of it, just all of it. pic.twitter.com/EPLfrHAY3o — Uncanny Annie (@AnnieNNolan) April 1, 2019

3/10



That time he wore his shorts backwards 🤦‍♀️ pic.twitter.com/1x5tqfQGZr — Uncanny Annie (@AnnieNNolan) April 1, 2019

4/10



That time he accidentally injured umpire, Courtney Lai, and I was absolutely mortified 😬😳🙈😓 pic.twitter.com/bFJhiPRaMp — Uncanny Annie (@AnnieNNolan) April 1, 2019

5/10



His gut run in 2017, running from one end to the other (I was in the grand stand eating donuts) pic.twitter.com/fGiZ4pVgZY — Uncanny Annie (@AnnieNNolan) April 1, 2019

6/10 My brother passed away on the Friday and he stayed up all night comforting me. He went to the game on Saturday despite no sleep! At the game my late brother’s favourite player (Paul Chapman) got in a fight with him. Felt like the final piece of banter between my bro and Liam pic.twitter.com/A3iUyxPFhl — Uncanny Annie (@AnnieNNolan) April 1, 2019

7/10



His pretty impressive debut on Brent Harvey and those first few years as a tagger (when every opposition supporter seemed to hate him! 😩😆)

Brent and Liam always went hard. Like this time (Brent’s wife, Shayne, and I were in the stands together having wine 🙈) pic.twitter.com/WFM326Op9t — Uncanny Annie (@AnnieNNolan) April 1, 2019

8/10

That time he kicked 6 goals in Cairns. The record for Cazaly’s Stadium. pic.twitter.com/IJOHkdV3Y6 — Uncanny Annie (@AnnieNNolan) April 1, 2019

9/10 -



That time he played in Ireland where he found Malachy’s name 😊 I was pregnant with Mally at the time 💖 pic.twitter.com/0U8yvXIY0R — Uncanny Annie (@AnnieNNolan) April 1, 2019

10/10



That 2016 Brownlow. I was SO DARN PROUD to stand with him 😭💘💖 pic.twitter.com/CQfO7h6yKM — Uncanny Annie (@AnnieNNolan) April 1, 2019

Former Bulldogs captain Bob Murphy declared Picken a club immortal, while coach Luke Beveridge also heaped praise on the 198-game player.

“For the duration of his career, Liam has embodied the core values we hold dear as a football club, and we will miss his presence greatly,” Beveridge said.

But Beveridge added the No.1 priority now is for Picken to regain his health. “I’ve tried everything and tried to get back and play, but unfortunately I just didn’t make it,” Picken said.

“It’s really knocked me around - the concussions just continue to linger and unfortunately it’s still hanging around now. I’m just going to try everything to get it right.”

Picken spoke of his mixed emotions — disappointment that he cannot keep playing, but great pride in his career and gratitude for the opportunity, as well as singling out his wife for her support.

Picken has strong AFL bloodlines — dad Billy was a Collingwood star and his brother Marcus also played senior football.

His cousin is Brisbane great Jonathan Brown, another player forced to retire because of problems stemming from concussion.

Bulldogs football boss Chris Grant said they will continue to support Picken with his health and post-football career.

— with AAP