Ryan Crowley's ambitious bid to return to Fremantle's senior side after a 12-month drug-related ban is over.
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The 31-year old was delisted by the Dockers on Thursday, along with another veteran, defender Paul Duffield.
Crowley won the club's best and fairest award, the Doig Medal, in 2012 and then played every game in 2013 (including the Grand Final loss to Hawthorn) and 2014.
He was then sensationally banned by the AFL on the eve of this season for breaching the competition's anti-doping code.
Crowley failed a match-day test after the Dockers round 17 clash with the GWS Giants (July 13, 2014), but his positive result was not reported for another eight months, on March 16.
The substance he tested positive for was contained in a painkiller not prescribed by the club doctors.
The sanction was backdated to September 25 last year, which made him available for the Dockers Preliminary Final clash with Hawthorn.
And while he had been training with his teammates for two months prior to that clash with the Hawks, it appears now that coach Ross Lyon never seriously considered playing Crowley – once arguably the AFL's best tagger.
Crowley, drafted from the Calder Cannons with pick 55 in the 2002 National Draft did not miss a game from round 21 of the 2011 season, until the end of 2014.
He reinvented himself under Lyon, keeping some of the competition's best player quiet and was often accused of going outside of the rules of the game in doing so.
Some of those players, such as North Melbourne veteran Brent Harvey, were quite public in challenging his tactics and won't be disappointed to learn that Crowley won't be there in 2016 to hamper would should be his final (and record-breaking) season at AFL level.
"Ryan became the competition's premier tagger and has been a popular player around the club and with fans," Dockers general manager of football operations Chris Bond said. "He left nothing out on the ground during his 188 games for Fremantle."
Duffield, 30, played 10 seasons with the Dockers after being rookie listed in 2004, from South Fremantle.
He managed just 14 games in 2015 though and leaves the club after 171 games with the Dockers.
"Paul is a Life Member and has spent his entire career at Fremantle," Bond said.
"He has been a strong part of our recent on-field success and helped develop our younger players by sharing his valuable knowledge of the game."
Duffield joins Luke McPharlin in having announced their retirements. Colin Silvia also departed the club midseason.
Fremantle have also delisted senior listed players Max Duffy and Josh Deluca along with rookie listed players Jacob Ballard and Craig Moller.
However, 19 year old Deluca looks certain to return to the club in November by the Rookie Draft.
Speculation remains though over the futures of captain Matthew Pavlich and injury-prone Anthony Morabito, who, if he continues, will be attempting to return from a fourth knee reconstruction.
