PORT Adelaide veteran Kane Cornes will retire after playing his 300th game in round eight against Richmond at Adelaide Oval.
The four-time best and fairest premiership player is set to join the South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service, having undergone final physical testing last month before sitting his entrance exam on April 20.
Cornes, 32, told media on Thursday: "This is a great football club and I've had some incredible times at Port Adelaide and can't thank the club enough."
Cornes has been offered a position with the fire department, which cannot be deferred.
A fire service recruit course begins on June 9 and another on September 14 – just two weeks before the Grand Final.
However enrolment in the second course would mean Cornes risked injury by playing until September.
Cornes was unexpectedly rested in round three, a move that set up a home game date for his milestone 300th.
He will become the only player to play 300 games for Port Adelaide in the club's AFL era.
Cornes made his debut for the Power in 2001 after being drafted with pick No.20 at the 2000 AFL Draft and has excelled as one of the competition's most durable players of the past 15 years.
He has played at least 20 games in 11 of the past 12 seasons.
KANE CORNES' CAREER AHEAD OF HIS RETIREMENT IN TWO WEEKS
- Four-time club champion (2007, 2008, 2010, 2012)
- Premiership player (2004)
- All Australian (2006, 2007)
- AFL games: 298
- Recruited: 2000 national draft, pick 20 (from Glenelg/Sacred Heart College)
- AFL debut: 2001 (round 10 v Hawthorn, MCG)
