Brisbane veteran Allen Christensen has announced his AFL retirement at the age of 29 after failing to play a senior game this year.
Christensen was just 20 when he won the premiership with Geelong in his first year in 2011.
The man nicknamed "Bundy" played 65 games for Geelong before moving to Brisbane at the end of 2014 for a fresh start after losing hundreds of thousands of dollars to gambling.
Christensen added another 68 games for the Lions, including two finals last year.
But he was unable to crack into the senior side this year, with surgery on his back during the pre-season putting him behind the eight ball.
"Obviously the flag is something I will look back on with great fondness but it happened so long ago and I was so young and at the time I guess I was just thinking about continuously trying to get better and better,'' Christensen said.
"Now it is all over I can say I'm very fortunate to have had the career I've had, I played at two big clubs and enjoyed some success.
"I was very proud to be a part of the side that returned our club to the finals last year."
Christensen made a significant impact off the field for the Lions, helping develop the club's reconciliation action plan.
He was also passionate about raising awareness about the dangers of gambling addiction, sharing details about how gambling consumed his life during his early days at Geelong.
Christensen said he would sometimes be awake at 2am watching horse races on mute while his partner slept next to him.
"I came here at a time where the club's culture and its performance on the field wasn't great and I also had a lot of stuff going on in my life too,'' he said.
"The club has helped me tremendously and I'm proud that I can say I feel I have made an impact on them too.
"I have been at the bottom but I have been lucky enough to play six years of footy for the Lions and to do things off the field I never thought I would do."
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