Collingwood premiership captain Nick Maxwell has announced his immediate retirement from AFL football and will miss the Magpies’ clash with Adelaide on Sunday afternoon.

The former skipper, who handed the title to Scott Pendlebury at the start of the season, has battled ankle and calf complaints in recent times and said it was a good time to give the game away.

"As I said to the boys, I’ve got nothing left. Unfortunately my body has had enough, so that's it," Maxwell said.

Maxwell said years of battling injuries had taken a heavy toll.

"It's almost impossible now to carry injuries.

"Having played through a lot of injuries, I just knew I had nothing left."

Maxwell said it was extremely tough breaking the news to his teammates last week.

"I almost lost it at one stage. I kept it pretty brief," he said.

Maxwell said he was motivated in the early part of his career by those who said he'd never make it to the top level.

"Early on I did, just wanting to prove people wrong and make a career out of AFL footy."

Maxwell, 31, was selected by Collingwood in the 2003 AFL Rookie Draft, played 208 games and kicked 29 goals.