The Mulligans Flat Woodland Sanctuary, on the edge of Canberra's urban sprawl, is one of Pocock's favourite places to escape the rugby world and he's back there just days after his Super Rugby retirement.

The nature reserve was built as a "safe haven" to give native flora and fauna, like bettongs, quolls and box-gum woodland, a place to thrive without invasive species. It seems appropriate Pocock is there, too. The wounded Wallaby hoping a cruel calf injury isn't the end.

The Brumbies would have loved a safe haven for Pocock, a place for him to rejuvenate and play every week.

But sport is brutal and injuries bookended Pocock's Canberra stint with knee and calf problems. Along the way there were two knee reconstructions in his first two seasons, playing 43 of 100 games since 2013 and this week being forced to call time on his hopes of playing for the Brumbies again. So how does he feel about the past seven years?

"I feel so much gratitude for the opportunity I've had here and the time. It hasn't been easy rugby wise with injuries and wasn't what I'd have wanted when joining the Brumbies," Pocock said.

"But it's one of those things - you often look back on more challenging periods and realise that's where you learned more. That's where you grew as a person. I think I've hopefully done that and been able to contribute in other ways.

"And when I have been on the field, I've put everything into it."

RACING THE WORLD CUP CLOCK

Pocock would rather be in Tokyo with his Brumbies teammates than walking towards the sanctuary on a crisp Canberra morning. He was forced to announce the immediate end to his Australian domestic career earlier this week

But Pocock hopes to be fit for the Wallabies' World Cup campaign later this year, although he also admits there's no definitive timeframe to his recovery from the calf strain he suffered in January.

It has been a frustrating period for the 31-year-old, who arrived in Canberra almost a decade ago as arguably the biggest recruit in Brumbies history.

There was so much hype and expectation about filling the No. 7 jersey made famous by George Smith. So much hope he could lead a new Brumbies golden generation to a drought-breaking title.

BRUMBY TALES FEATURES

The reality of injuries hit everyone hard. Pocock ended up spending almost as much time hiking up trails on Black Mountain doing rehabilitation work than he did pinching balls at the breakdown.

The Brumbies recruited a great player, but did Pocock become a Brumbies great? No. When people think of the best players in Brumbies history they think of George Gregan, Stephen Larkham and George Smith.

The legacy of those three players were championships, more than 100 games for the club and making the Brumbies an internationally-known brand.

Pocock will be an Australian rugby great. But the Brumbies and the fans will look back on the time in Canberra, look at the injuries and wonder 'what if'. What if his time hadn't been cursed by injury? What could have been?

Pocock is undoubtedly one of the world's best players. It's unfair to say that he didn't have an impact on the field because when Pocock was fit, there was no one better for the Brumbies. Tackles, breakdown pilfers and game-winning moments.

The injuries, though, prevented Pocock from having the impact he had hoped and the results Brumbies and their fans craved. The injuries prevented him from being in the same category as Gregan, Larkham and Smith.

But Pocock got more out of Canberra than rugby. Places like the Mulligans Flat Woodland Sanctuary became as familiar as the rugby field.

Pocock has never been someone to let rugby union, injuries, performances, wins or losses define him. His outside-of-sport interests are well known: marriage equality, action on climate change and nature conservation.

So when he wasn't at training, he was exploring Canberra and its surrounds. He married wife Emma at a ceremony on Bruce Ridge, did his knee reconstruction rehabilitation walking up Black Mountain and Mt Ainslie, even paddle boarding on the lake with rehab coach, Ben Serpell, to change things up.

One of the world's best openside flankers has made Canberra his home, exploring nature reserves on the city's doorstep and hatching chickens in his Turner backyard.

"Then there's this right here [at Mulligans Flat Woodland Sanctuary], it's amazing. A project like this, showing us how amazing the Australian landscape could look, right on our doorstep," Pocock said.

"All the other stuff [away from rugby] helps you get some perspective. It's such a strange thing, though, because when you're a professional athlete and you're injured, not being able to play is everything.

"You are doing everything you can to get back out there. The other stuff tempers that a bit with the perspective that you're not dying, you've got good support and great people trying to help you. Life can be really challenging and really good at the same time.

"Involvement in other things has been huge for me. Time in nature. It's so easy to get caught up spending all our time comparing ourselves to people around us, or their manicured highlight reels on social media, we're all guilty of it, rather than just being who we are.

"So whether it's gardening, sitting by the Murrumbidgee or going for a walk ... whatever, everyone's got their thing that helps quieten their mind a bit and reconnect with what's important."

A CAREER BY NUMBERS

In total Pocock played 112 Super Rugby games after starting his career as a teenager at the Western Force. He played 43 in Canberra, scored 12 tries for the Brumbies and grabbed 78 pilfers, the highest in Super Rugby history.

He's a two-time John Eales Medal winner as the best player in Australia and won the Brett Robinson award at the Brumbies in his comeback season after a knee reconstruction.

All great memories, definitely. But some of the things that stick with Pocock will be the tangles with blackberry bushes on his way to "secret" spots along the banks of the Murrumbidgee River.

BRUMBIES NEWS

Or the time he shocked Emma by buying chicken eggs and an incubator after his second knee reconstruction, hatching 49 in their relatively small backyard. Or the neighbours helping with fairly regular chicken escapees, or how the young roosters crowing used to drive his neighbours nuts.

Retirement, likely to follow his planned World Cup return and a stint in Japan, is a daunting prospect, even for someone like Pocock who has ample interests outside of rugby's on-field lines.

Politics? Maybe. Gardening? Definitely. "Our backyard is in a state of rewilding ... it's terrible at the moment. A bit neglected," Pocock said.

"I made the decision at the end of last year to put everything into rugby this year, and then with the injuries this year I haven't put much time or effort into the garden. And Emma is the real worker in the garden and she's been flat out this year."

But injury doesn't mean Pocock is done with the Brumbies. The ACT side is chasing a return to the finals and Pocock is still riding the rollercoaster.

"If we win this year, I'm part of it. It's a 35-man effort. I won't get another opportunity [to play] and that's fine, but I'll support in anyway I can," Pocock said.

"Regrets ... I don't know. There are always things you regret. But that's life, you move on and try to make the here and now better."