Katamatite's Sam Wright reflects on AFL retirement

But while much about Wright has changed, plenty has stayed the same - his drive to be a quality teammate and his love of the club high on the list.

Citing his string of injuries - which included a 701-day wait between games 116 and 117 after four ankle surgeries - the 29-year-old announced his retirement earlier this week, pending tomorrow's final run for the Kangaroos' VFL side, at Arden Street against Box Hill.

Summing up his career-changing week, Wright felt touched by the large amount of support that had been on offer.

"I've received a lot of support, a lot of messages and phone calls and I'm slowly trying to get back to them all," he said.

"The support has been overwhelming, especially from back home in that Katamatite, Invergordon, Shepparton area. It's been awesome and great to hear from a lot of ex-teammates.

"I've always prided myself on being a good person and a good teammate, I'm really happy a lot has been about that."

Initially playing forward, Wright burst onto the AFL landscape in his sophomore season, slotting 23 goals in 20 games throughout 2010.

After shifting to defence, he had a big part to play as North attempted to summit the AFL mountain, helping it to preliminary finals in 2014 and 2015.

Moments like those, Wright said, will be memories never forgotten by the much-loved Kangaroo.

"I've had a lot of injuries, but there's been a lot of good times too and success, to play in seven finals, two prelim finals, but never quite making it to the grand final, that definitely stands out," he said.

"It's been a great ride and the support has been amazing and that hasn't dropped off one bit. It probably hasn't really sunk in yet, but there's an overwhelming feeling of pride and of being really supported."

On his decision to retire, Wright said the vigorous physical demand of the AFL - and its grueling pre-seasons - made it close to a no-brainer, particularly given how close his career had been to coming to an end in the 2017 injury hiatus.

"It has been tough, if you look back in some sense I've missed two years of footy," he said.

"They gave it a 50-50 chance of ever coming back, but I managed to come back and play 16 games last season.

"At the back of my mind I knew I was one injury away from pulling the pin. I'm still looking to have a kick in local footy, but just training at that level is not a possibility, and I know I wouldn't have really got through another pre-season."

Evident throughout his North Melbourne tenure - and even more so since retiring - has been his deep love of the club, via his gratitude for giving him an opportunity and his appreciation of its people.

"I've only ever played for two clubs, Katamatite and North Melbourne," Wright said.

"It's a similar feeling to how I feel about Katamatite, I just really respect the club and love it and what it has done for me - it changed my life.

"It's the kind of club you leave, but you're always a Shinboner, and I'm sure the club will welcome me back. You can never really fully thank them, but I'm really, really glad they took a chance on me."

As for what's next, Wright said he would assess his local footy options while hopefully moving into a professional off-field role within the AFL.

Local clubs - including a Katamatite side coached by brother Jedd - will be queuing up for his services, but he will gauge his body after a solid break.

"Katamatite has been calling me for two years, although my brother is the coach," he said laughing.

"He's probably the most glad person in Victoria that I'm retiring.

"I'm not sure where I'll play, I'll have to see how my body is after a four or five-month break.

"I'll need something challenging for a job, because the AFL has been such a challenging environment and that's what I'm used to. I've put in a lot of work to prepare for retirement the last couple of years, I'm looking at the player development and welfare side of things, hopefully in the AFL."

With plenty of friends and family trekking to Arden Street for tomorrow's final hit-out, Wright joked there was plenty of pressure on him to kick a bag of goals, but was grateful he had a chance to thank the people who had helped him on his decade-long journey.