Doubts over Croad's future had grown throughout the 2009 season and swelled when he missed the Hawks' last training session before Christmas.
At a media conference on Wednesday, Croad, sitting alongside coach Alastair Clarkson and president Jeff Kennett, confirmed his medical advice was that another break or fracture to the foot could render it unusable on a permanent basis.
But he said the 2008 grand final win was worth all the problems that had followed.
"One hundred per cent, definitely - my last moment in football was grand final day, what a wonderful thing," Croad said. "You can't plan that sort of thing; you can only dream of it.
"I said to the boys earlier, and Clarko reiterated it, that what broke me on the day will hopefully make me later on in life."
Despite three operations on the foot, including having the bones fused, scans late last year suggested his rehabilitation had stalled.
Clarkson said that the club always knew that Croad's return was not guaranteed, despite his renowned ability to recover well from injury, but said he had made the right decision.
"Our medical staff have been a bit jumpy [about his recovery] ever since the injury, as we knew it was a very very serious injury at the time," he said.
"You always want to be as positive as you can, but our medicos always held grave fears for Croady to be able to return to his normal best.
"We pushed on, but it got to about November of 2009 and it just hadn't responded to the type of treatment that we'd hoped it would."
Croad played less than a half in the premiership win, but Clarson said his heroism would always be remembered.
"The sheer act of him injuring himself in the second quarter of the grand final, and then getting up and still putting his body on the line to lay a bump on Joel Selwood before he left the ground was perhaps a real reflection of the input and the courage that he demonstrated for the Hawthorn Football Club."
Selected at No3 in the 1997 national draft, Croad played 222 AFL games in 12 seasons which included a two-year stint with Fremantle.
Rotated through the key positions in the early stages of his career, he showed athleticism and aggression and seemed to settle as a forward soon before he was traded west with Luke McPharlin at the end of 2001.
To that stage he had played 84 games.
Central to the Fremantle deal was the No.1 pick, which the Hawks used to draft Luke Hodge, while pick 36 secured them current captain Sam Mitchell. They also received pick 20.
Croad led Fremantle's goalkicking (42 goals) in 2002 but then fell away the next season.
His high profile in Perth ensured his form was heavily scrutinised by media and supporters and, after just 38 games he was sent back to Hawthorn in exchange for its first-round draft pick.
Croad was reinvented in the backline by the struggling Hawks, finishing runner-up in their best and fairest award in 2004 and winning All-Australian honours at centre half-back in 2005.
Under Clarkson, his game continued to improve, and he played a key role in the Hawks' return to the finals in 2007 and its successful campaign of 2008.
However, he hobbled from the ground early in the grand final victory over Geelong, taking no further part in the game and accepting his premiership medallion on crutches.
Hawthorn was hit hard by injuries in 2009, with Croad's absence in defence a void it simply couldn't fill.
