ALL-AUSTRALIAN defender Nathan Bassett has delivered Adelaide a shock with news that he is retiring due to poor health.

Bassett, 31, said he feared that in time he would lose his mobility if he played another season because he had Type 1 diabetes.

"My ankle is not particularly great, my neck is sore, and I am a Type 1 diabetic, so it takes a lot of organisation to play every week and a lot of preparation," Bassett said.

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Coach Neil Craig and club chief executive Steven Trigg described Bassett, who was traded by Melbourne in 1997 and has played 208 AFL games for Adelaide, as one of the Crows' most courageous players, but Bassett deflected that attention by saying teammate Jason Porplyzia typified the meaning of courage every week.

Porplyzia again hurt his shoulder at training yesterday, but will persist, and play against the Western Bulldogs at AAMI Stadium on Saturday.

Bassett said it was hard to comprehend sometimes what it would be like to go into a game knowing that there was a real chance of dislocating your shoulder again, especially going in for the ball each time. "It says something about his strength as an individual that he has been able to do that and still perform so well for us when he has played."

Bassett and his wife, Nicole, have a six-month-old daughter, Charlotte, and he said his family was his priority in life.

"I have got someone (Charlotte) who is going to ask me to play at different times, and I want to be able to do it. I see a lot of old footballers, and some not-so-old footballers with serious injuries that they have to deal with for the rest of their life. I think I can leave now pretty confident I won't have those issues. If I played another year, I would not be so confident."

Bassett said he had tried to put retirement out of his mind this season, and felt good about his health a few weeks ago, but last weekend he knew his bold bid to continue playing was drawing to an end.

"I was sore going into the game last Sunday," Bassett said. "I thought, 'I can't do any more to prepare myself to play AFL football … I have done everything right; it was an eight-day break and I still can't play to my best level, and it's not going to get better.'

"Before the weekend I really decided this was it, and it was time to move on and do some thing else.

"I am happy with my form; I think it has been solid the last 10 weeks. I am just thinking about the future."

Bassett told his wife on Sunday night, his coach on Monday afternoon, and remained steadfast with his decision as he told teammates before training yesterday.

As retirements in the AFL tend to demand, Bassett was asked about his toughest opponents, and didn't go past Tony Lockett.

"It was a fun day. He kicked a few and we lost by 20 goals that day.

"You play against a lot of great players over your time.

"The game has changed so much during my career …

"It's only going to get faster and guys are only going to become better athletes."