“I remember him walking out of the room and then turning around to Leigh Montagna, Luke Ball and Matt Maguire and saying, ‘don’t worry, we’ll be able to play this game forever’, and never really understanding what Loewey meant,” Dal Santo told the Bendigo Advertiser this week.

But those words from Loewe 15 years ago certainly mean plenty now to Dal Santo, who this week announced his AFL retirement.

“I remember back then looking at Loewey and thinking, ‘geez, he’s old, he’s got a family, kids and he has been around forever’, and I guess that’s where I’m at now,” Dal Santo said.

“But he was right… it has gone quick.”

Dal Santo, 32, retires after 322 AFL games with St Kilda (260) and North Melbourne (62) in what was a journey that started as a 17-year-old a week after finishing Year 12 at Bendigo Senior Secondary College in November, 2001.

“It has been my whole adult life. I remember finishing Year 12 at BSSC and then a week later I was training at St Kilda,” Dal Santo said.

“So it has certainly been the crux of my life so far.”

Dal Santo was selected by St Kilda at pick No.13 in the AFL’s “super draft” of 2001.

While he is a Pioneer draftee, Dal Santo first kicked a football with the Mandurang Junior Football Club’s under-12 team as a 10-year-old in 1994.

Dal Santo’s 1994 coach was Graeme Warfe, who told the Bendigo Advertiser back in 2009: “He just seemed to have so much time and balance to firstly, get the ball, and secondly, get rid of the ball, and everything seemed to just come naturally to him. And he was always very good at thinking his way through a situation.”

They are traits he carried through an AFL career that oozed class, and 22 years on Dal Santo holds the mantle as the most VFL/AFL games played by a homegrown Bendigo player with his 322.

“The games is an interesting one because they sort of just accumulate as you go,” said Dal Santo, who also played junior football with Kennington-Sandhurst, including in one under-15 premiership team in 1999 that also featured fellow future AFL players Adam and Troy Selwood and Rick Ladson.

“I’ve never really focused on my games played, but the way I look at it is the longevity is a reflection of your preparation, the way you handle your body and the way you deal with injuries.

“I’ve been extremely fortunate to play for as long as I have and to have had eight surgeries through that time and only one of them last year (torn hamstring) cost me games through the footy season has been really lucky.

“The one thing I’ve been really proud of is my preparation, the way I’ve trained and looked after my body… all the little things from diet to recovery is something I’ve really taken pride in as a professional athlete

“It’s one thing to be able to play good footy on a Saturday or Sunday, but there’s a lot that has gone into it and I’ve always taken it really seriously.”

Dal Santo finishes his career with a CV of accolades including three-time All-Australian, dual International Rules representative and top-three Brownlow Medal finishes in 2011 and 2005 among them, but a premiership eluded him, despite playing in three grand finals for St Kilda.

Yet despite falling agonsingly short in the 2009 grand final against Geelong and 2010 drawn grand final against Collingwood, before the Magpies comfortably won the replay the following week, Dal Santo leaves the AFL content in his achievements over 15 seasons.

“I’m satisfied in what I’ve been able to achieve. There’s no doubt that what happened in those grand finals at St Kilda hurt a lot, but the friendships and relationships I have with those people are the equivalent of if we had won one,” Dal Santo said.

“The only difference is we don’t have a medal and an actual purpose to catch up, but we are that good mates that those friendships will go on forever and it’s something I’m really thankful for.

“In terms of my career I’ve achieved a few things personally, which has been really nice.

“Leaving Bendigo as a 17-year-old, I never set out to try to be a three-time All-Australian or anything like that, but they are fantastic things to look back on.

“Having a son (Jude) and my wife (Julie) is pregnant again, to be able to tell your kids one day that at one point in your life you were one of the better footballers in Australia will mean a lot to me.”

Dal Santo announced his retirement on Tuesday via Instagram, just over two months after being told he – along with Brent Harvey, Drew Petrie and Michael Firrito – wouldn’t be offered another contract at North Melbourne next year.

“I obviously knew back then that things were going to be different no matter what, be it at a different football club or football would be finally coming to an end for me,” Dal Santo said.

“But on Tuesday it was a little bit different again knowing that I had to verbalise it that there would be no chance I’d be playing AFL any more, so that was a bit emotional in reflecting on what has been a fantastic time.

“It has been 15 years at two different football clubs with so many great memories and people, and I’ve had some fantastic support and messages since Tuesday, which I really appreciate.”

As for the future, Dal Santo – a former student at Strathfieldsaye Primary School, Flora Hill Secondary College and BSSC – has indicated a combination of media, coaching and corporate as the areas he will now turn his attention to.

But there may still be the chance for the odd kick of the footy in Melbourne.

“I can’t see myself playing footy on a permanent basis, there’s other things I want to do in my life and one of them is media, so there goes your weekends,” he said.

“I’ve still got some friends and ex team-mates who play in Melbourne in various competitions, so if that means I play the odd game here and there, that’s possible.”