Essendon have confirmed Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti will retire after Friday's match against Collingwood.
The decision comes toward the end of a comeback season for the 30-year-old, who announced his retirement in May last year due to personal reasons and a battle with injury.
The Tiwi Islands native officially made a return to the Bombers last November to play in the 2023 season, where he has managed six appearances for a return of four goals.
McDonald-Tipungwuti's first game back in the red sash would come against Hawthorn in Round 1 as the tactical sub, with the veteran forward popping up for a goal almost immediately in what was one of the moments of the season so far.
Injury would force the Bombers livewire to miss the following weeks before playing five straight games between Rounds 7-11 before form forced McDonald-Tipungwuti to be omitted from Brad Scott's side.
The 132-gamer will play one last match for Essendon this week when the Bombers host Collingwood at the MCG, with the club confirming McDonald-Tipungwuti's retirement on Thursday morning.
McDonald-Tipungwuti was recruited out of Essendon's VFL program in 2015 via the National Draft and would make his debut the following year against the Suns.
McDonald-Tipungwuti would begin his professional career as a sprightly half-back flanker before moving into the forward third, where he has since won the club's leading goalkicker award, with the honour coming in 2020.
The 19-goal season would be McDonald-Tipungwuti's fifth-best haul in a single year, having booted 34 goals the year after.
Essendon will face Collingwood at the MCG at 7:50pm (AEST) on Friday night as they hope to keep their season alive.
McDonald-Tipungwuti joins Andrew Phillips as the only other Essendon veteran to announce his retirement in 2023.
