 After 43 games over 3 seasons, Michael's career was cut short by a serious knee injury, which caused him to retire at the end of the 2001 season.He had an experimental surgery on the knee, in which new cartilage was grown in Scandinavia from a culture of his own cartilage.He remained on Fremantle's list for the 2002 season, and returned to train with South Fremantle but never played football again.