And then there was one.

Port Adelaide lost two of their remaining three inaugural AFL players on Wednesday when Brendon Lade and midfielder Peter Burgoyne, both premiership winners, announced jointly that they would retire from football at season's end.

The retirements leave former captain Warren Tredrea as the last-surviving link to Port's 1997 squad, and serve as the start of what is expected to be a substantial list clean-out at Alberton following two barren and baffling seasons.

The exit of 33-year-old Lade creates a particularly gaping hole, for he and fellow ruckman Dean Brogan were the league's leading tall duo over several years, and there is no-one presently on Port's list who looks capable of replacing him.

Famously shy and seldom interviewed, 31-year-old Burgoyne has been fighting himself for much of the year, having first felt in pre-season that he was losing the passion and discipline required to play successfully; a torment evident in many of his performances.

Gone was the blistering speed and clean inside hands that made him one of the league's most damaging midfielders for nearly a decade, replaced by hesitance and confusion that often resulted in turnovers.

Burgoyne revealed Port coach Mark Williams had talked him out of retiring weeks ago, around the time he was dropped from the side following a conspicuously poor game against Melbourne.

"I just haven't got the passion in my heart, and the hunger," he said.

"I've been this way now for a long time, I spoke to Mark probably seven weeks ago and he talked me out of retirement.

"But I went back into him last week and I just said I can't go on anymore.

"I've played 13 years of AFL footy and then before that I was playing in the SANFL for two or three years and it takes its toll."

A ruckman of prodigious talent if not athleticism, Lade's career was remarkable for the fact that he missed two years of football in 2000-01 due to twice breaking his leg, the sort of setback that could easily have brought his career to a premature close.

"It does make me proud but as I said to the boys everyone's got a story to tell, something going on in their life, and it's how you deal with that adversity and how you perform each week," Lade said.

"After the second one, going off Docklands, I remember sitting on the stretcher and thinking `this could be it, this could be the last thing I do in football' and that was a pretty scary feeling.

"I got a titanium rod down the side of the bone, and she's all good now, so I look forward to the rest of my life."

A coaching pathway has already been flagged for Lade - though not at the Power where a more seasoned assistant is being sought - and Williams predicted fruitful years ahead as a tactician and mentor.

In all, Lade has played 233 games for the Power while Burgoyne's tally sits at 239.

They performed key roles in Port's 2004 premiership side, with Burgoyne widely considered unlucky to miss out on the Norm Smith Medal for his outstanding performance in the centre.

Both will take part against North Melbourne at AAMI Stadium on Saturday night and continue playing in the unlikely event Port make the finals.

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