A pair of distinguished football careers came to contrasting ends at Saturday's NTFA grand final.
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Deloraine's Matthew O'Donoghue and Rocherlea's Lyndon Stubbs laced up the shoes for the final time and hung them up post game - ending playing careers full of premierships.
A member of Launceston's NTFL hat-trick, O'Donoghue left the Blues in 2011 before coaching Longford the following year and finishing up at Deloraine from 2015.
He said a conversation with coach Lochy Dornauf a month ago influenced his retirement.
"It's been a long time and I've thoroughly enjoyed it but I felt like it's a good opportunity this year with everything that's going on and the work we put in to get this season up and going, it was a good way to finish up," he said.
NTFA FINALS FEVER
"Especially not knowing what could happen next year and things like that, I just looked at it as a great opportunity to go out on my terms and really enjoy the last few moments of my career."
Described by Dornauf as the most consistent player he's seen, O'Donoghue listed the Blues flags and the opportunity to coach Longford at just 25 years of age as two major highlights.
But he couldn't go past Saturday's win, saying he couldn't have asked for anything better.
"The work that it takes, I suppose when you're involved with them at Launceston you're just a player and you take those kind of things for granted but being on the other side and being a part of the coaching group, you see the work it does take for footy clubs to win premierships.
"It's not just on the field, the work that goes off the field and through the communities and things like that and I've been able to see that and how much hard work is involved in getting clubs successful."
Father of two young children, O'Donoghue is looking forward to spending time with them but said he will follow the Kangaroos around next year - describing the club as home.
Dornauf certainly hopes the 34-year-old's future is with his side.
"He's very level-headed, he's an extremely good leader and he seems more relatable to every single age group which makes it a lot easier pushing over different perspectives and trying to understand the drivers to get people better," he said.
Stubbs on the other hand still has his finger in the coaching pie this season as an assistant for North Launceston's development league side, who are charging towards finals.
The 35-year-old, who also coaches Riverside Cricket Club, made his senior debut for Devonport in 2004 before moving to North Launceston in 2009 and then Rocherlea in 2012.
He coached the Tigers to a premiership in 2016, something he describes as his best career highlight, and while he admits it would have been nice to go out with a win, he knows it's the right time.
"I finished coaching in 2018 and I always thought I would like to play one more season after that because I wanted to enjoy it again, not that I didn't enjoy coaching, but enjoy watching the guys that I coached continue to develop," he said.
"Last season I really did enjoy that, it was probably one of my favourite seasons of football really because I'd done the coaching role and moving back to just a player was thoroughly enjoyable.
"I thought to myself because I enjoyed it so much, I may as well play on and I knew going into this season it was going to be my last.
"When I got into playing a few games here and there, it was evident how sore and tired the old body was from only playing four or five games."
Upon retiring, the Tiger gave credit to Deloraine for a strong grand final victory.