CHRIS Grant is expected to make an announcement on his future within the next 72 hours, with the likelihood being that the Western Bulldog great will join the extraordinary exodus of champions from football at the end of the season — one that the Brisbane Lions yesterday intimated that dual premiership player Chris Scott would join.

Grant, 34, spoke with Bulldog coach Rodney Eade last week and is believed to have indicated since that he is prepared to make an announcement ahead of Sunday's final home-and-away match, against the Kangaroos at Telstra Dome.

While retirement for the club games record-holder and two-time best-and-fairest winner is not yet definite, he has played only three matches this season, for a total of 339, and needed to be coaxed into playing on less than 12 months ago.

Grant is no certainty to play even this weekend, as he continues to recover from a knee injury received in his last game, in round 18, although he is given a reasonable chance to return for what would be another farewell amid a recent spate of them.

It is believed the Dogs have agreed to allow Grant the time to come to a conclusion, even if it means that he is unable to be farewelled on Sunday.

Grant played all 24 matches for the Dogs last year in a campaign in which they played finals for the first time in six years and his decision to continue was made, in part, because of the optimistic take on the club's immediate future. He had broken Doug Hawkins' club games record late in the season.

That optimism has evaporated since round 15, when the club sat in the top eight at 9-6. Since then, it has drawn one match and lost five.

Scott is expected to announce his retirement today, only days after making his senior comeback from a crippling hip injury that had kept him out of the game since 2005.

Scott, who began his career with an AFL Rising Star award in 1994 and won the club best and fairest in 1998, was a key member of the Lions' premiership sides of 2001 and 2002. If he plays his final match at the Gabba on Saturday, he will finish his career with 215 games.

However, Scott is far from certain to be selected, with coach Leigh Matthews saying yesterday that Jason Roe, Josh Drummond and Joel Macdonald were all competing for his position in the back line.

Plainly, even with the Lions only a slight mathematical chance of reaching the finals, the coach was looking to the future.

Scott has insisted that he wanted to earn his place in the side on his merits and has asked for no favours from Matthews, who yesterday praised the 31-year-old's effort to reclaim his place in the side.

"I didn't think I'd be putting Chris Scott's name on the team board again, I've got to say," he said. "He got a game partly because there was a fair few guys not available. But nevertheless, he earned his spot and I think he competed admirably.

"It's just a great testament to perseverance. He had a lot of obstacles in the last couple of years, but he eventually clambered over them to at least get back on the field — that just didn't look possible, given what shape his body had been in."

If Scott doesn't play, he is likely to be given a rousing farewell by the Lions in front of his home crowd.

"His mind's in a pretty good place, Chris, I think," Matthews said. "I think he realised 12 months ago that playing seniors again wasn't what he should set his store on.

"His aim was on doing the best (he could) to get rehabilitated and get playing again, and if that's good enough to play seniors, that's almost a bonus."

Matthews also admitted one of the reasons for playing Scott ahead of Drummond on Saturday was the likelihood he would be matched up against another struggling retiree in Mark Ricciuto.

"I thought, Chris Scott and Ricciuto, that's not a bad match-up because Ricciuto is ageing and about to retire and he hasn't played much recently, either. And that probably worked out OK, to be honest."