Ben Rutten says he always knew 2014 was going to be his last season of AFL football.

Twice a top-three finisher in Adelaide’s Club Champion award, Rutten announced on Tuesday that he would retire from the game at the end of the 2014 season.

The 2005 All-Australian full back is one of only 13 Crows to play 200 AFL games with the Club, but said he has been preparing for retirement since the beginning of the year.

“Throughout pre-season I was going into it preparing and treating every session and every moment like it was the last year,” Rutten said.

“It’s something I’ve sort of been thinking about for most of the year. It just felt like this was the right week in terms of announcing it.”

Selected by the Crows with Pick No.40 in the 2002 Rookie Draft, Rutten has left a legacy as arguably Adelaide’s greatest full back. The 31-year-old veteran has played the most Crows games of any current player at the Club with 225 AFL appearances in the tri-colours.

Rutten said the announcement would be a weight off his shoulders as he hopes to close out his final season at West Lakes in fairytale fashion.

“It stops me thinking about it a bit – it wasn’t a tough decision,” Rutten said.

“It sort of frees me up a bit to keep training and keep performing the way that I want to and try to be part of another finals campaign.

“I’m really keen to keep playing out my career. I still feel like I’ve got some value and can contribute on match day on and off the field.

“I think we can really push for the finals and do some damage once we get there.”

Rutten said the toughest part was sharing his decision with teammates on Tuesday morning.

“Telling the players today was pretty hard,” Rutten said.

“It doesn’t matter how comfortable you are with the decision, it is still tough to get up in front of the players who you go through the ups and downs with.

“You want to be a player for life but that’s not the way it goes.”

Having built a reputation as one of the most feared full backs of the competition, Rutten named Franklin, Hall, Tredrea and Brown as the most difficult opponents of his career.

But the man known as ‘Truck’ said he would never forget his first game at full back when Neil Craig took charge of the Crows for the first time in Round 14, 2004.

“It was my third or fourth game at the Club. I walked in the door and (Neil Craig) said ‘how do you feel about playing on David Neitz?’,” Rutten said.

“I wasn’t expecting it at all, and he had two goals by quarter time so I was waiting for the runner to come out.”

The champion Melbourne forward failed to add to his two-goal tally for the remainder of the match, with the Crows running out eventual 72-point winners.

 “He stuck with me back there and I’ve played every game since starting at full back.”