"I didn't stop thinking about certain stuff, especially last year, and that was affecting, like relationships because I wasn't there - I was thinking about other stuff."

Griffen's mother was concerned.  "She came up through the year and said I've changed, my personality's changed, you're not happy, what's wrong, you're not your normal self. Because your mother knows."

Ultimately, Griffen's mother, and especially eldest brother Travis, would be influential in encouraging him to leave the Dogs -  setting off a sequence of drastic events that included the trading of Griffen and Tom Boyd.

Griffen's request for a trade also was immediately followed by the sacking of Brendan McCartney as coach - an event that Griffen views as completely separate from his decision. "It's not a good feeling and you know I wasn't sitting there with a smile on my face," Griffen said of McCartney's axing in October.

"I was distraught and that was a horrible time in my life, that whole process. But I still feel they were separate issues. I don't feel that it was just me leaving, that's the reason why Macca had to go."

He would not have reversed his decision had he known McCartney was to go, he said. "I wasn't going to change my mind, whether Macca was there or not. I just got to a point in my career where I felt I needed to have a change."

Several weeks before his request for a trade detonated, Griffen was contacted by Leon Cameron, the coach of the Giants, who had coached Griffen in Cameron's years as an assistant under Rodney Eade. Cameron listened to Griffen's woes, but neither coach nor player then thought Griffen would end his Dog days and make the Giant leap north.

"Leon contacted me probably six weeks out, just to see how I was, how I was travelling. That's all that discussion was," said Griffen. To the question of whether a move to Greater Western Sydney was considered, he added: "No he didn't think it was possible. I told him it wasn't possible then. I was like 'no, I'm going to stick it out."'

But Griffen did not stay the course, even as the Dogs tried to talk him into remaining. Happiness came first. On a return from a post-season trip to Italy with his girlfriend Jasmine - and following conversations with family - he made what he refers to, throughout our interview, as "the decision."

Griffen doesn't blame the captaincy entirely for The Decision, but suggested that his captain's attempts to make everyone happy - team mates clearly included - didn't help his own wellbeing.

"There was me trying to make everyone happy, and that's probably what brought me down. I was trying to make everyone sort of happy, happy medium."

Had he not left, Griffen believes would have retired later this year. "I needed to be refreshed. I was at a point where I wasn't enjoying footy and I wasn't enjoying going to training, I wasn't enjoying life outside, which was affecting things outside the club as well. I needed a change. I felt that getting out of Melbourne and getting up here - I have a great relationship with Leon ... to completely have a fresh start, I thought that would give me a spark to sort of finish my career in the right way. Otherwise, I was willing to walk away from the game.

"I think I probably would have played another year - obviously I had another year in my contract - seen that out and if I wasn't enjoying it, there was no point going on."

The re-booted Ryan Griffen of 2015 wore a dark T-shirt, designer Sydney stubble and a noticeable North shore suntan. He was relaxed and comfortable in the Giants' board room, overlooking a pristine oval, having completed "90-95 percent of pre-season" and feeling "no issues" with the back that had been such a problem in his Annus Horribilis of 2014. Still 28, he has a four year contract and hopes they will  "go all the way" in that period.

Griffen is sharing a house with ex-Lion defender Joel Patfull at Tamarama, while Jasmine completes her architecture degree in Melbourne - she plans to move up in November. Griffen "loves the beach" and has been attempting to surf. It is interesting that these prized GWS recruits are living on the coast, in "greater" rather than "western" Sydney. The weather, said Griffen, "suits me a lot better and I actually do feel a lot more relaxed up here than I did in Melbourne."

He eschewed a role in GWS's leadership group, which was announced on the morning we meet. Griffen said he did not consider any club besides the Giants, due to his relationship with Cameron and his desire to refresh completely. He did not consider a move back to his home state of South Australia. "Adelaide's probably more of a bubble."

"They didn't really have to make a pitch because I made a decision that I needed a change and I wanted to come up here ... I looked at the list." Griffen went north, in his words, "to find the love of the game again."

Griffen's famed reserve wasn't evident in our interview, except when he deployed the euphemism of "certain things" from 2014.

He acknowledged that he had taken player concerns (from Bulldogs' president Peter Gordon's version, many of these were clearly about McCartney) - to the club admininstration at season's end.

"There were player concerns and I as  captain I felt that I needed to have discussions with the president and certain other people and those discussions took place. And I guess that probably put more pressure on me as a captain and that ...  I felt I had to do that for the playing group."

Talks with players led to conversations with the doomed McCartney. "Yeah, we had discussions ... But look even if he pleaded for me to stay, it wasn't just him, it was certain things in my life that needed to change and I had already made decision, so I was ready to have a fresh start and I couldn't be more happier here."

Griffen recognises - and flatly rejects - the perception that his relationship with the coach prompted The Decision. "They're wrong ... There were so many other issues than Macca. A lot of people think it was the coach and we had this shocking relationship, but with Macca he taught me so many good things, I had so many good years under Macca. He taught me a lot of things along the way.

"It wasn't just Macca. It was the environment, it was just me - I don't know I just got to a point where I wasn't enjoying training, I was worrying about a lot of other things with the captaincy as well that were bringing me down." Despite Griffen's attempts, he and McCartney haven't spoken since the tumult of post-season ended. "I think there will be a time where we will have chat. We'll definitely talk again." Once he'd quit, pending a trade, Griffen's most difficult call was the one he made to his replacement as skipper, Robert Murphy. "

That was the toughest phone call I've ever had to make,  to Robert, one of the toughest, because I had so much respect for Rob and he loves that footy club ... but he's so level headed."

Griffen also understands and accepts that he will be booed by Dogs fans, yet asked for understanding.  "I just want them to probably know there were certain reasons ... Life is too short to be unhappy, and that's the only reason why I've made the decision."

Griffen says he is rapt that the Dogs, for so long bereft of a power forward, have received one as a result of his exit, as the 2013 number one pick,  Boyd, heads the other direction on the Hume Highway and takes up that monstrous seven year deal. "I want the Bulldogs to succeed. I was there for 10 years. I have a soft spot for them, I love the club. So for them to get what they wanted, I was very happy and I'm hoping that Boydy can become the player that they want.

"And I feel that he can, because he's an absolute monster and that's what they needed, so I feel good that they got the player that they need."

The death of Griffen's father from cancer about five years ago was another factor that influenced The Decision.  "I think that makes you look at life quite differently ... if you've lost someone close to you in your life, you sort of, you know how quickly it can be taken away from you. So there's no point going through your life feeling like shit."