The president: Paul Gardner
"He's not just considered one of the greats of the Melbourne Football Club, but one of the greats of AFL football.

"He deserves his place amongst the Barassis, Stynes, Flowers, Lyons, Cordners and Ridleys as a true champion and true Demon.

"He's also spent half of his life at the Melbourne Football Club. He is a superstar of the game, he is a superstar of the Melbourne Football Club and we're incredibly proud of the great David Neitz."

The chief executive: Paul McNamee
"It's a momentous day for the Melbourne Football Club and one that affects our captain and great warrior."

The senior coach: Dean Bailey
"Probably from an opposition point-of-view when I was backline coach at Port Adelaide, he was one of the toughest players for us to not only match up on, but when he was on a roll, he was very difficult to stop and you had to start playing players in front of him and that sometimes didn't work.

"His aggression - he's always seen as a player that if Melbourne needed a lift, he'd provide it and I can still remember [a match] where he broke a couple of tackles and bumped a bloke out of the way and then kicked a goal - you could not only feel the crowd rise, but all of the players and he certainly had that impact.

"Over the short period of time I've known him, he's a very driven person, he's very determined and he certainly holds a very special place at a great club.

"The word legend and champion certainly sits neatly against his name and his legacy will continue on and we intend to drain all of the information out of him - we intend to sit him down and take everything we can out of him - now that he's not a player. We will take everything out of him, so we can teach our other players and I think that's a great transfer from David into our young forwards.

"If he looks drained at the end of year, that's because of all of the information we've sucked out of him."

The football operations manager: Chris Connolly
"One of the greatest players to ever play for the Melbourne Football Club."

The player: Russell Robertson
"For me, I've been able to play next to David in the forward line for a lot of years and I guess I've learned a lot about football from him and life in general.

"I've been lucky to play with 'Neita', 'Schwarta' and Garry Lyon, but to play so long with a player of his standard and [his] leadership capabilities was magnificent.

"I always said whenever I walked from the huddle to the forward line next to him, I always felt a lot bigger, a lot stronger and I felt safe, which is a compliment for David - he just made us all grow a bit.

"When he was firing, he was an unbelievable footballer - he was just loads of fun. To watch him marking the ball all of the time and kicking goals … it's going to be hard not having him around anymore, because I've played so much football with him.

"But it's a challenge for us moving on now and what we'll do without him and I'm sure we'll all have to grow and get better.”