CENTRAL District co-captain Brad Symes has told teammates of his decision to retire from football immediately after succumbing to the affects of multiple concussion injuries.

The 29-year-old Magarey Medallist and former AFL defender has not played since Round 1 when he was knocked unconscious in a collision with Woodville-West Torrens’ Adam Grocke.

Symes, who finishes his career on 99 SANFL and 80 AFL games and with two premierships at the Bulldogs, told coach Roy Laird on Monday and his teammates last night.

“It’s pretty disappointing but that’s the way it’s fallen and I’m at a stage now where the sooner I let the boys know we can all move on from it,” Symes said.

“Ever since it happened I was probably 90 per cent sure it would end up like this ... I was waiting for an ideal time but there’s probably never an ideal time to make this call so I thought I’d get it out of the way tonight and we can all move forward.”

Symes has revealed he was unconscious for seven minutes after the latest incident and was still waking at night with neck soreness.

An exclusive interview with Brad Symes will appear on advertiser.com.au from 10am on Tuesday.