Warren Tredrea's AFL career, so close to concluding last year, may now stretch into 2011.

Last season Tredrea felt sure he would retire at year's end, before an unexpectedly fertile year in attack - 51 goals - drew him into extending his tenure.

Due to play his 250th match for Port Adelaide against West Coast at Subiaco on Saturday, Tredrea has not ruled out going on next year if his battered body can stand the continued strains of life in a key position.

"I thought last year was going to be my last year, obviously coming off the injury a while back, there was slow progression but last year was a good one personally and I was able to get back into some decent form," Tredrea said on Wednesday.

"You never want to put a timeline on things but mentally-wise I prepared for last year as though it would be the end.

"In saying that it was to make every post a winner to do everything I could to enjoy my last season, and it went on a year longer than I thought it would.

"So to say this year is my last, I'm mentally prepared that it could be but that decision will be made come August/September after the finals series.

"If my body's fresh and I'm enjoying it then there's no reason why I won't continue."

Though his shoulders and knees are pockmarked by surgical scars and his receding hair closely cropped, Tredrea was happy to note that he is still only 31 years old, younger than the Power's lead ruckman Dean Brogan.

"People have said I look older than I am and I probably agree with that theory, but I'm 31 turning 32 and I started on this list I think as the second youngest player when Port first started," Tredrea said.

"Stuart Dew was the only bloke younger than me, and I've managed to outlast most of the guys.

"I lost three longterm teammates the last couple of years, Michael Wilson, Brendon Lade and Peter Burgoyne who I played the majority of my footy with.

"The natural thing is to say that I am old but the fact is that Dean Brogan is actually older than me - I tell him that, even though he's got a lot more hair, and it does his head in every day."

Tredrea's enthusiasm for the game has been kept at a high level by the new faces he has seen around him at Alberton, and by the level of analysis being handed to the group by a coaching roster bolstered by Dean Laidley and Garry Hocking.

"When you're a senior player sitting and watching you're just thinking that you want to keep going for the simple fact that we're going places quickly," he said.

"It likens us a bit to the end of 1998, start of '99 when no-one rates you, you're a young team and you're going places.

"We're creating an environment where I can't see too many other clubs doing any more than we do in terms of preparing our players for the game."

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