Cross suffered only the second soft tissue complaint of his illustrious career midway through the first quarter.

The AFL 249-gamer bravely battled on until late in the second term, where he limped off.

"I ruptured the conjoint ligament, there's three tendons in the hamstring and two of them join together up the top of your shin bone, I've ruptured one, the other is intact, but I've pulled that one away from the bone," he revealed.

"I've never had any hamstring issues, so I've done a good job on this first one."

Cross works in the high performance department at AFL club North Melbourne and will undergo a surgical consultation next week.

"There's a possibility the surgeon says I may not need it, there's probably a high chance I will need to have it reattached," he added.

Cross's only other soft tissue injury was also at Albury against Wangaratta in the 2017 second semi-final.

He tore his calf muscle, but played the grand final.

"I guess I'm coming to the recognition that my body's pretty much given up on me now," he admitted.

"There's a few little things that are catching up with me now, just banged my body up over the years, this is the nail in the coffin.

"It's not a definite (that I will retire), I certainly haven't made that call, but it's probably a high chance that might have been my last game."

Cross was selected by the Western Bulldogs at No. 56 in the 2000 Draft.

The midfielder debuted in round 10, 2002 against Richmond and finished with 210 games at the 'Dogs, winning the 2008 Charles Sutton Medal.

He then ended his career with two years at Melbourne, departing after 39 games at the end of 2015.

Cross had two ankle reconstructions, a shoulder reconstruction, a ruptured medial and a fractured leg over his 15 years at the elite level, but jumped at the chance to play for Albury.

"Just purely the love for the club, I guess, like most kids, my dad (Peter) was my hero, I loved watching him play when I was a young fella, the Cross name, with dad, uncle Terry and my brother Josh, who played some good footy there, I wanted to go back and play some senior footy," he explained.

"I grew a real love for the players and staff there, some of whom were there when I was a young kid.

"The opportunity to see mum and dad on weekends, take my kids up, see my grandparents, they've been the major things that have drawn me back.

"It's been a great ride, I'm really happy that I did come back."

Cross has battled serious knee and foot injuries over the past 12 months, undergoing more surgery, the seventh of his career, to remove bone spurs from his foot.

ALSO IN SPORT:

He has played 48 games for Albury - mixing it with AFL work commitments at Melbourne and now the 'Roos - starring against competition favourites Wangaratta only three weeks ago.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: