MELBOURNE great Brad Green has brought his retirement forward by one week and will play his last AFL match this Sunday at the MCG against the Adelaide Crows.

Green, who announced his retirement three days after kicking an equal career best five goals against the Gold Coast Suns in round 19, was initially set to play his last match against Fremantle at Patersons Stadium in round 23.

But given this round is Melbourne’s last home match for the season and it’s staged at the MCG, where he has played 141 of his 253 matches to date - he has opted to play his farewell match on familiar soil.  

“I’ve been thinking about it a bit over the last couple of weeks. I’d been thinking that I’d love to finish off in Melbourne at the MCG, where I’ve played so many games,” he told melbournefc.com.au.

“It’s a special place for me, so to finish in front of family and friends is something I felt strongly about. I’d rather finish in Melbourne than heading over to Perth - no disrespect to Perth.

“I’m going to be running out there for the last time with the boys, so it’s going to be a bit sad, and I’ll really miss playing on the MCG with the red and blue.”

Green said it was a “pretty easy decision in the end” after consulting coach Mark Neeld and his teammates.

“The only concern I had was that I still wanted to play out the season with my teammates. I had that in the back of my mind, and I didn’t want to let them down,” he said.

“I’ve spoken to a few of the boys and they’ve said they would’ve done the same.

“I spoke about it with Neeldy over the last couple of days and basically I went to him and said ‘this is what I’d like to do’. He backed me 100 per cent with the decision, which was great. It was great to have the backing of the coach as well.”

Green said he enjoy spending greater time with his family, wife Anna, first born Oliver and baby Wilba.

“At the moment, family has been at the forefront of my mind - just helping them out. But no doubt on Sunday, it’s going to be a happy, but sad day,” he said.

“He’s (Wilba) going well and keeping us occupied, so that’s probably taken my mind off everything, which has been a blessing,” he said.

“I’m just looking forward to playing this weekend.”

Green, who will finish sixth behind only David Neitz (306 matches), Robert Flower (272), Adem Yze (271), Jim Stynes (264) and Steven Febey (258) in Melbourne’s games record tally, will end with 254 matches after debuting in 2000.

The Tasmanian will also have family and friends coming to watch him play his final match.

“I’ve got some family and friends coming across, so I’ll have about 15 to 20 coming over. That’ll be fantastic to have the family over,” he said.