Former North Melbourne best-and-fairest winner Robbie Tarrant has announced his retirement, effective immediately.

The No.15 pick in the 2007 draft, Tarrant played 174 games for the Kangaroos before moving to Richmond at the end of the 2021 season.

He won the Syd Barker Medal in 2016.

The 34-year-old has played just two VFL games this year due to a chronic hip injury and has called time on his career after 194 games at the top level.

Tarrant said the hip issue that has plagued him this year ultimately became too much to overcome. 

"I know if I do not announce it today, that I will keep trying to play, and I am worried about where that will land me come season's end," he said.

"Having missed the draft as a 17-year-old, I knew from then on that if I was going to make it, I was going to have to work as hard as I could.

"And I finish up today knowing that I have done that. I have got nothing left in the tank."

A former North Melbourne vice-captain, Tarrant played 14 seasons at Arden St.

After an injury-riddled start to his career, a move to the backline saw him become one of the competition's premier key defenders.

He declined North Melbourne’s contract offer at the end of the 2021 season, joining the Tigers in that year's trade period.