Foot injuries force West Coast defender to call it a day

RETIRING West Coast defender Eric Mackenzie has revealed his foot injuries are still causing him constant pain and there is no guarantee they will ever fully heal.

A tearful Mackenzie announced his AFL retirement yesterday, saying it was time to put his health first.

The 30-year-old has a rare condition known as Hallux rigidus that causes stiffness and inflammation in his big toes.

Surgery last October failed to fix the problem and followup scans on Friday showed there had been no improvement over the past 12 weeks. Mackenzie’s career finishes on 147 games — three games short of life membership.

“The feet have been giving me a lot of grief. I’ve been in pain for the last two years,” Mackenzie said.

“They hurt, not just playing football, but day to day life. Hopefully not being on my feet all day, every day, will give them a chance to heal.”

Mackenzie was rated as one of the AFL’s best key defenders during his 2014 campaign when he won the Eagles’ best and fairest award and was nominated in the ex- tended All-Australian squad.

But he only managed 26 games since, battling a torn ACL and the foot injuries.

Mackenzie’s finest moment came in last year’s elimination final win over Port Adelaide when his decision to slam into a point post instead of rushing a behind helped West Coast win the game.

“I didn’t want that to be my last act on a footy field, but it kind of ended up that was the way it was,” Mackenzie said.

“It’s something I can look back on with a lot of pride.”

Eagles coach Adam Simpson lavished praise on Mackenzie, saying the defender would be sorely missed.

“It was just, ‘Who’s the best player? Ezy, can you just take care of it?’ And then we’ll worry about the rest of the team’,” Simpson said.