TROUBLED draftee Dayle Garlett has quit AFL football, telling Hawthorn the demands of the game and homesickness made it impossible for him to continue.

The talented but wayward 20-year-old, who was given a draft lifeline from the Hawks last November when no other club was prepared to take him on, instructed club officials of his decision on Monday.

Hawthorn director of football Chris Fagan and recruiting manager Graham Wright flew to Perth to meet with Garlett and his manager, with the club agreeing on Tuesday to release him from his contract, pending AFL approval.

Fagan confirmed the club had accepted Garlett’s decision, but insisted it had no regrets about giving him a chance at last year’s national draft.

“There are no regrets, we are proud of the fact that as a club we have given him an opportunity,” Fagan saidlast night.

“I think it was good for the game that someone gave him a chance, and someone with that amount of talent was worth it.

“We are just really disappointed for him more so than for ourselves because we know what sort of talent he has got.

media_camera Draftees Billy Hartung, Dayle Garlett and James Sicily share a laugh. Picture: Colleen Petch.

“But you can’t make someone do what they don’t want to do. They became unhappy and then they can become disruptive and do things you don’t want them to do.”

Addressing the media on Wednesday, Fagan said Garlett would be delisted at season’s end and could not be put on the long-term injury list.

“We can’t trade him at the end of the year (if he wants to play elsewhere). He’ll be delisted,” Fagan said.

“The best process is to delist him. We can’t put him on the long-term injury list because he’s not injured.

“We’re not able to elevate a rookie as per the rules at the moment.”

Garlett returned to Perth recently in an effort to gain his driver’s license, which Hawthorn believed might give him more independence on his return to Melbourne.

But the same homesickness and self-doubt which has plagued the brilliant left-footer’s time in Melbourne — and his inability to cope with the pressures and demands of AFL football — simply proved too much in the end

“I think he has really enjoyed being back in Perth; he just feels relaxed and enjoys being around his family,” Fagan said.

“He probably thought it was good for him to come over to Melbourne but he found it hard.

“He is finding playing AFL football very stressful at the moment.”

media_camera Dayle Garlett quits Hawks to return to Western Australia. Picture: Getty

“We are releasing him from his contract and that enables him to play footy back in Perth. That’s a good thing for him. He will probably enjoy that because it is not as serious or as under the microscope as what the AFL is.

“He said to me: ‘I just don’t feel like I am mature enough to handle (AFL football)’. What we have been through in the last three or four weeks, trying to help him, hasn’t changed his mind.

“He was going well for the first month or so, but then the reality set in. This (training) was constant and this was relentless, and that’s what AFL footy is. It isn’t for everyone.”

Fagan said Garlett’s age, and his unquestioned talent, meant it might not be the end of his AFL story.

“At some point, who knows, he might just learn from this experience and decide he wants to do it again; he’s only 20.”

Garlett has long been considered the most exciting prospect outside of the AFL system, but concerns about his off-field behaviour saw him overlooked in the 2012 national draft.

After an outstanding season for Swan Districts in the WAFL last season, kicking 45 goals, Garlett once more came under the AFL recruiting radar, though many clubs believed he was too much of a risk to take.

Just a few months after winning last year’s premiership, Hawthorn made the biggest surprise of the national draft, by selecting him at pick 38.

The club said it was prepared to back its systems in trying to get Garlett settled in Melbourne, but a month ago it conceded that he was not coping with the demands of the training or the external pressure and expectation surrounding him.

Garlett came to the club last month to tell them he was uncomfortable playing at any level until he felt right to go. Sadly, that won’t happen now.