JONATHAN Giles had known for years that his degenerative knee was a ticking time bomb that could hasten the end of his football career. 

But that didn't make pulling the pin last September, still with a season to run on his West Coast contract, any easier.

"You want to play footy forever, but there's got to be a time when you say 'enough's enough'," Giles told AFL.com.au. 

"My knee was too sore, I couldn't train enough or play to the ability I wanted to."

There was also life after football to consider. 

Constant grinding of bone on bone in Giles' knee was only getting worse and the jumping, landing and sheer combativeness of playing in the ruck wasn't helping. 

Swelling and stiffness were daily management issues, which forced him to take a mid-season break last year.

While Giles made it back and finished the campaign at East Perth, doctors were warning him about the risks of continuing to push his body into his 30s.  

"(They would say) 'your knee might get to a stage where you might need more surgery or, a long way down the track, other things like knee replacements'," he said. 

"That was also the (retirement) discussion with 'Voz' (football manager Craig Vozzo). 

"It wasn't just a football chat, it was a lifestyle one in terms of in five years' time or 10 years' time do you still want to be able to run around with your family and live a healthy lifestyle? 

"You always speak to ex-players who have been retired for a while and they're always limping around, or the coaches who always go to see the physio or the doc and have an old footy injury.

"It's always in the back of your head, down the line how is your body going to feel?"

So on September 21 last year – five days after his teammates were thrashed by one of his three former clubs, Greater Western Sydney, in a semi-final – Giles' 63-game career quietly came to an end via a story posted on West Coast's website.

He never became the champion Port Adelaide ruckman he planned after being drafted by the Power with pick 70 in 2005, nor did his retirement receive much fanfare. 

But he was always a popular clubman and feels privileged to have the rare opportunity to be part of four AFL clubs – Port Adelaide, the Giants (51 games), Essendon (three) and West Coast (nine) – in different states.

By the end of his playing days, it seemed the term "journeyman" had been coined just for him. 

"There wouldn't be an article on me without it," Giles laughed. "I reckon I have a little chuckle every time I read it or hear it.

"When I first got drafted I thought 'this will be great, I'll play for Port Adelaide and be a 200-game player and play for 15 years'.

"My career didn't go how you think you want it to pan out, but to be honest the ups and downs that I went through made me the person I am today. 

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

Giles fires out a handball during the 2017 Western Derby. Picture: AFL Photos

When Giles retired he was prepared to "have a breather" from footy, and couldn't wait to swap his footy boots for steel-caps and get stuck into working for construction company Built.

But upheaval in the Eagles' coaching ranks saw club legend Dean Cox depart for Sydney, opening up a part-time ruck role. 

When West Coast came calling, Giles jumped at the opportunity to work with his former teammates Nic Naitanui, Scott Lycett and Nathan Vardy, the ex-Cat who overtook him in the ruck pecking order last year.  

"I always had a good relationship with Scotty, Nic and Vards from playing or training with them," he said. 

"My relationship hasn't changed in terms of being good mates, but everything is to try to get them better. 

"I like to think I'm hand-in-hand with them. I'm not barking orders or telling them what they have to do. 

"(Vardy) had a really good season last year and played a lot of time in the ruck and he's still got a lot of upside to him. 

"Where I'm working with him is to keep upskilling him in his ruck craft and technique. 

"Obviously Nic we've got to be careful with how he progresses back (from his knee reconstruction) and build a really good base to go forward off.

"He's been in and out of the main group – he's got a very tailored program in terms of his kilometres, sprints and jumps. So it's very specific. 

"My role with him is to get him back going and get his confidence back, and the Nic that we know, to get that back. 

"I'm just going back to basics with him with a lot of things.

"I'm hoping I've been teaching him a few things and other techniques on how he can ruck. 

"Everyone knows that he is a really explosive player so I'm trying to teach him other strings to his bow – not saying he doesn't have any other strings to his bow – to make some more real strengths for him to build on." 

When he's not manning the jumping bags at West Coast training two days a week, Giles is working on the $60m Raine Square refurbishment in Perth's CBD, wrapping his head around roles in contract administration and as a junior site foreman, and he's loving every moment. 

"I do all the pointing," Giles said with a laugh. "My hands are squeaky clean at the end of the day – my head's a bit sore.

"All my career's been footy, so it's nice and it's refreshing to step outside of footy and work with Built.

"(For) every player that makes that transition from playing footy, there's always that little grey area of what you're going to do. 

"I've been fortunate that it's panned out for me also being able to do the ruck coaching and stay involved with footy at the Eagles."