Melbourne forward Shane McAdam has retired from AFL football at age 30 after an injury-ravaged finish to his career that restricted him to three games for the club. The Dee said on Tuesday that McAdam’s decision brings down the curtain on a 53-game AFL career that began at Adelaide and ended after a frustrating two-season spell in red and blue.

McAdam played 50 games for Adelaide and kicked 20-plus goals in consecutive seasons in 2021 and 2022 before being traded to Melbourne at the end of 2023. He managed three appearances for the Demons in 2024, but soft tissue injuries disrupted that first season and an Achilles injury ahead of 2025 left him unable to build momentum.

Melbourne general manager of AFL football performance Alan Richardson said the club fully supported McAdam’s choice to return home to his family. Richardson said McAdam had been a valued member of the club, but injuries had made it difficult for him to contribute out on the field the way he would have liked.

The retirement adds another change to a Melbourne list already in motion. McAdam is the third Demons player to retire in 2026, after Steven May and Tom Campbell, and his departure, along with Campbell’s retirement and Jai Culley’s ACL injury, leaves Melbourne with three picks in Tuesday night’s Telstra AFL Mid-Season Rookie Draft.

For Melbourne, the move is another sign of how little had gone to plan since McAdam arrived from Adelaide. For McAdam, it ends a career that briefly looked like it could deliver more at the top level, but was repeatedly pulled off course by injury before he could get a sustained run at it.