TWO-TIME Hawthorn premiership defender Brent Guerra has retired after 255 AFL games.

 

The 31-year-old announced his decision on Wednesday after meeting with Hawks officials at Waverley.

 

Guerra joined Hawthorn for the 2006 season after four years with Port Adelaide and two at St Kilda.

 

A self-confessed party boy during his early years in the League, he came to the Hawks vastly matured and became a mainstay in coach Alastair Clarkson's team.

 

With his unerring hardness and lethal left boot, Guerra switched to defence, playing a crucial role in the club's drought-breaking 2008 premiership win.

 

After missing the 2012 finals series with a hamstring injury, he managed his body carefully this year and capped his 14-year career perfectly, winning a second flag.

 

All up, the Bendigo product played 159 games in brown and gold, qualifying him for life membership of the club.

 

As recently as late August, Guerra declared a desire to play on in 2014, acknowledging at the time that the final weeks of the season would determine his future.

 

Guerra joins Lance Franklin in departing Hawthorn in the days following Saturday's Grand Final win.

 

The futures of Michael Osborne, Xavier Ellis and Max Bailey are still to be decided.