MATTHEW Pavlich says the mid-year retirements of contemporaries Darren Glass and Jonathan Brown provided him with a 'sharp reminder' of how quickly the end can come.
In spite of those reminders Pavlich has committed to a 16th AFL season, signing a one-year contract extension to remain at Fremantle in 2015.
The 305-game veteran said the retirements of both Glass and Brown made him consider his future carefully. However, the six-time All Australian believes his mind and body are still strong enough to play on for another 12 months.
"They were sharp reminders of the commitment that I'm making for another 12 months at the end of this season," Pavlich said.
"Playing against those two, and coming into the system at the same time, it sort of made me consider where I was at and what my thought process was.
"It sharpened my focus on that. They've decided to hang them up and I think for different reasons it was certainly appropriate for them.
"But I'm still committed and my mind and body are willing."
Glass, Pavlich's long-time foe, said he felt like his mind and body were strong enough at the end of the 2013 season to continue playing, however upon retiring in June the Eagles' champion believed in hindsight he had gone one year too long.
Pavlich said he was smart enough to know that the same thing could conceivably happen to him but he was confident it wouldn't.
"I'm a realist," Pavlich said.
"I understand, and I'm pragmatic enough to know that absolute perfect exits from the game are few and far between.
"I'm pragmatic enough to understand that (a similar situation to Glass’) could very well happen, but I'm certainly planning for it not to."
The six-time best and fairest winner is the Dockers' longest serving captain having led Fremantle on 159 occasions, and should he play against Greater Western Sydney on Sunday he will move to outright 15th on the list of all-time longest serving captains in VFL/AFL history.
However, the 32-year-old said he would consider relinquishing the captaincy at the end of the year if it was in the best interests of the club.
"We have seen a huge amount of growth both within the leadership group and outside of that, so if the group and the club thought it was time and if it felt appropriate as well, absolutely, I'm happy to do that," Pavlich said.
"I'll obviously keep (the captaincy) for this point in time, and we'll discuss that come year's end and into the pre-season. It is a player driven thing. It's voted upon and it may look a whole lot different come November, December when we do it."
Pavlich missed last week's win over Melbourne due to an unexpected illness, but he said he would be fine to take his place in the Dockers line-up on Sunday against GWS.
