Champion's timing was impeccable

Triple figures yet again ... Matthew Hayden celebrates what was possibly a career-saving hundred at The Oval in the fifth Test of the 2005 Ashes series against England. Hayden retired during the week after a stellar career which included 30 centuries

Matthew Hayden is a class act. His brilliant playing career demands such a description. The manner in which he retired confirms it. It's never easy to say "It's over". Particularly when, in your heart, you don't believe it to be true.

His natural instinct would be to fight on and prove people wrong. After all, he spent the first half of his first life doing just the same. There comes a time …

Hayden read the situation perfectly. A bit like the way he used to read Muttiah Muralitharan's "doosra" and nonchalantly sweep it to the square-leg boundary. There was also a time in his career when critics said he couldn't play spin. Nothing a little hard work and dedication couldn't fix. Typically, he became one of the best.

His acceptance of the inevitability of his situation shows a man strong in character and very comfortable in his own skin.

Professional sport is littered with examples of the talented fighter who went one bout too many.

In rugby league we have the philosophy that it's best to go one year too early than one year too late. So many players hang on for too long. They cite a passion for the game as justification to continue. More often it's a fear of the unknown - a life without football - that scares them the most.

The bottom line is even the very best sportsmen wake up one morning and it is gone. I can't explain what it is - but you just can't do what you used to do.

You can't apply yourself as diligently. You keep thinking this match will be the one when you get it all together, but the disappointments keep coming. There are intermittent recoveries; glimpses of your former self. However, consistency eludes you and confidence gets eroded.

Nothing makes sense. You have more knowledge and skill than any time in your career. You're training hard. You feel strong. You've never loved the game as much as you do right now. But … something is missing.

The feet don't move as quickly as they used to. Your reflexes don't react as they should. Your mind wanders at inappropriate times and your once steely concentration is diluted with other distractions.

Your normally aggressive and confident manner is replaced with tinges of apprehension or even fear at the point of impact. There's a negative shadow hovering over your thoughts. You hit and hope. If you're honest, you sometimes feel even the good things you do are actually a bit of a fluke - but you poke your chest out anyway, like you're really in control.

You kid yourself that no one else can see your inner turmoil and anxiety. To the trained observer though, your body language has already given you away.

I'm sure Hayden feels he still had more to offer. I sense his teammates felt the same way too.

With any team sport, leadership and chemistry play as much a part in success as the runs off the bat or catches in the field.

Hayden has stood like a protective colossus over his teammates for so long. He strikes me as the one who gives them confidence when they eye each other in the dressing room before going out to perform. He intimidated opposition attacks, battering them into submission and in so doing, paved the way for others to follow. His teammates wouldn't like to lose such a man.

At a time when the Australian cricket team is undergoing a massive transition in personnel, there was surely a case for perseverance with Hayden. In professional sport though, all jobs in and around the organisation are in jeopardy when the wins dry up.

The success of the Australian cricket team has been fuelled by the ability, passion and competitiveness of people such as Hayden. Plenty have become more valuable in their own right through playing alongside him.

It's somewhat ironic, therefore, the perceived failure of the Aussie boys this summer at the hands of the South Africans has contributed to Hayden's early curtain call.

I'm not so sure our team has failed as badly as people make out. I can see a future here as youngsters earn their stripes and try to live down, rather than live up to, the results of their successful predecessors. Hayden could've assisted their development. I'm old enough to remember the struggles our national team went through during the 60s, 70s and 80s. It made me appreciate the great success our lads have achieved during the past couple of decades.

I've seen it plenty of times in football where a highly successful period in a club's history removes the patience and resolve of an organisation to handle the downturn when the cycle of success turns against them. A few losses plunges them into panic mode and everyone looks for the quick fix to get back on top. Success doesn't work that way.

Anyway, what's done is done.

The point I want to make is that Matthew Hayden has taken his retirement like a man.

Sure, it's a year too early. But the signs were there; and it's best we remember him this way.

I've enjoyed his career so much. Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Adam Gilchrist, Steve Waugh, Allan Border, Mark Taylor, Ian Healy, Ricky Ponting; from the outside looking in, my instincts tell me these greats have been the catalyst for the aggressive, consistent and successful period Australian cricket has enjoyed for so long.

To me, these warriors have moulded the personality of the modern-day Australian cricket team. I place Hayden right alongside these great names.

I stand and applaud Hayden for his contributions to Australian cricket and I thank him for the many great summers of entertainment he has provided us cricket fans. He epitomises everything we want an Australian sportsman to be. I can think of no higher accolade.