The veteran sharpshooter confirmed on Friday that Saturday's clash with the JackJumpers in Wollongong will be his last as an NBL player, three seasons after first calling time on his stellar career.

He later admitted to a sense of uneasiness over that call that was forced upon him when he was deemed surplus to requirements by incoming coach Brian Goorjian.

The mastercoach subsequently admitted it was one of the bigger mistakes he'd made in his career, with Coenraad's razor-sharp three-point shooting from the bench a key factor in back-to-back finals runs.

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The current season has not reached anywhere near those heights on the team front, but the 37-year-old said he's leaving on his own terms this time around.

"I can say this time that it's my decision," Coenraad said.

"I'm not retiring because I didn't get picked, I'm retiring because I don't have what it takes to play at this level anymore and other things are becoming more of a priority for me.

"I've said before that, if you're going to play professional sport, you should be doing [only] professional sport. You shouldn't have an obvious plan b, it should be your plan a, b and c because you don't get to do it for a very long time.

"If you're lucky, you get to do it for 14 seasons. I'm doing it because it's time and I don't want it to become a bad joke. I wanted to pull the pin and make it my decision.

"I didn't want to do it early and have this thing be like a [farewell] tour. I just wanted it to be one night and I'm glad I can run out saying 'this will be my last one'."

While his love of the game has never wavered, the 373-game veteran admits his passion for the day-to-day has waned over the past two seasons and he risked becoming a "hypocrite" had he sought to continue.

"As a professional athlete you don't want to fall in love with game day," he said.

"Game day's a fickle mistress, she's good to you sometimes, she's bad to you sometimes. You need to fall in love with, is the daily grind.

"You need to fall in love with extra work, taking care of your body, extra one-on-one's, you need to fall in love with practice, because they're the things that make up most of your time.

"That's what I fell in love with and that's started to go away over the last three years. You have to be willing to call people out as a leader, but as soon as you point the finger, there's three fingers pointing back at you.

"If you can't do the things you're saying to do, I'd feel like a bit of a hypocrite. I can't give what I used to on the floor anymore, I'm not at the level these guys are at anymore."

He'll retire third on the club's all-time appearance list behind jersey retirees Glen Saville and Mat Campbell and, like the latter, a one-club player. It's a remarkable achievement, but perhaps not as remarkable as the fact the club's still here 14 years after he started.

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While he's long joked that he's the NBL's the all-time leader in voluntary administrations, it's the off-court struggles that have left him so tightly bonded to the colours and, more importantly, the fans.

"I didn't think I'd be here after 14 years," he said.

"You can't really envision it and, if I'm being honest, if I'd made the right decision for basketball, I probably would have left and done what most guys should do these days and chase the money and the high profile.

"I saw what Mat and Sav were able to create here, the community feel, and I fell in love with that. It's the same faces in the crowd, it's the feel of the town, the sponsors that give all they can.

"I remember the first time we went through voluntary administration, board members were doing things like mortgaging houses to pay our wages. I'll never forget those people and the sacrifices they made. They're the reason I wanted to stay around."

The Hawks head into Saturday's clash with Tasmania looking for just their fourth win of the season from 28 games, but Coenraad's confident of seeing a long-term gain.

"Not many groups would stay as tight through this level of adversity," he said.

"It's been a rough season, no doubt. It's not necessarily one you want to step away from as you last one, but this group of guys have been able to still enjoy coming to work and still enjoy the grind.

"I've loved being around this group... that's probably the thing I'll miss the most."

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