For a better quality of life post-football, now was the time for the key defender to leave the game.

The prospect of a third operation on his back, this one to fuse a disc in his spine to alleviate his ongoing pain, was the tipping point for the 29-year-old from Evandale, who called time last week after 86 games in eight years for North Melbourne.

‘‘I knew after my last operation [in the preseason] that it was going to be difficult to get back, but we gave it the best rehab that we could and I was given a bit of extra time,’’ Grima told The Examiner.

‘‘When I tried to run again, I lasted about a two sessions and I couldn’t run again.

‘‘I knew about six weeks ago, and as I’ve barely been able to run for the last five months, so it had been in my head for a while.

‘‘But it was a relief in the end to let the guys know it is all over.

‘‘It has been a tough couple of years mentally, as when you have a bad back, life is pretty miserable, and I’ve been living with that for the past four or five years.

‘‘While I did have a good patches, for the past five years I probably haven’t had more than seven or eight weeks in a row where I have felt good, so I’ve always been playing under duress with different painkillers.

‘‘I wanted to play as much footy as I could, but in the end it did catch up with me.’’

His next operation will take place on Thursday.

‘‘I can’t run or get active at the minute and I’m too young not to do that, so it is looking at the long term and short term of my life.

‘‘If I continued to have back problems into the future, I would end up resenting my time in the game, and I didn’t want that.’’

But there is no anger from Grima about the fact that his body did not allow him more time in the game (he also had knee, finger, hand and foot issues in his times).

‘‘But you do wonder whether you could have reached greater heights,’’ the former mature-aged rookie said.

‘‘I can’t remember a time in a career where I played more than 10 or 12 games in row, so I wasn’t able to get that continuity or train fully.

‘‘I don’t know whether I could have played better, but I like to think I could have if I had got a better run at it.’’

Grima looks back fondly on his time at Arden Street, believing it has helped make him a better person.

‘‘I came here living the lifestyle of the local footballer, and coming into the AFL system I had to adapt.

‘‘I got my attitude right and I was committed to the cause.

‘‘The thing that I have loved more so than anything is the network of people that I have been exposed to coming from a small country town in Tassie, the people you get to meet and mingle with, you can get a lot of life experience from that.’’

Grima, who came to the club with the 14th pick in the 2007 rookie draft from SANFL club Central Districts, also spent time with South and North Launceston.

He achieved a dream last year when he played in a winning final in last year’s elimination final win over Essendon, with a win over St Kilda late in 2009 when the Saints had only lost one match also sticking in his mind.

His performance on Matthew Pavlich in round 19, 2010, when he held him goalless and won the ball 27 times himself is one he rates as his best game, and the hard-running Nick Riewoldt was his toughest opponent.

‘‘’I had a good patch in 2010 when I got the opportunity to play on Brendan Fevola, Nick Riewoldt, Pavlich, Adam Goodes and Jonathan Brown, those guys that I had idolised.

‘‘I had mixed results, but to have been able to play on some of the best footballers of that era and compete, that is something I can hang my hat on.’’

Grima, who is engaged to Jacinta Spence (who is originally from Hobart), will stay in Melbourne, and hopes to get a media role (with sports radio the dream), as well as a ‘‘real job’’.

He has not ruled out one day returning to play at the local level, depending on his recovery, saying it is a family dream for he and his brothers Alex and Todd, who also spent time on AFL lists, to play in the one team.