That's unless Cavalry manager Keith Ward gets his way and convinces Kent to keep playing.

Kent told his teammates of his decision to retire after guiding the Cavalry to victory in their semi-final against Adelaide last Friday.

He plans to be part of Australia's push for Olympic qualification, with Tokyo hopefully his last hurrah - COVID-19 permitting.

Australia has to win the final qualifying tournament, which was meant to be played in Taiwan in April last year before it was postponed due to the pandemic, to earn the final spot at the Tokyo Olympics.

Then he'll focus on his young family.

Cavalry captain Robbie Perkins, who was named Canberra MVP and silver slugger last week, said they wouldn't be able to replace Kent.

The 31-year-old was a foundation player for the Cavalry when the ABL returned in 2010.

He was part of their only Claxton Shield victory when they won the ABL championship in 2013.

Kent played 124 games for the Cavalry for a career earned-run average of 3.86.

He also had two stints with the Atlanta Braves, making it to AAA class - the level below Major League Baseball.

"That's the thing, you're not going to be able to replace him for who he is as a player or as a person," Perkins said.

"It's a part of life, part of sport, any job really - eventually everyone moves on and you just do your best.

"He's still planning on being part of that Australian squad. That's the complete end game where he's done with the ABL, he'll push himself to be part of that squad and got o the Olympics if we qualify.

"Then that'll be the final feather in his cap. It's one of the very few things he hasn't been able to achieve ... so it'd definitely be very cool to be able to finish on something like that."

Ward said Kent's decision came as a "little bit of a shock" and he would miss having the "absolute bulldog" to call upon.

That's if he can't convince the left-hand pitcher to go around again next season.

Ward felt Kent was still at the top of his game - as shown by the seven innings he pitched in his last game, where he gave up just two runs and five hits while striking out six hitter.

He'll spend the winter keeping in his ear about the 2021-22 ABL season.

"As the winter goes on and we know a little bit more about the ABL and Canberra Cavalry we'll still be keeping in touch with him and see if we can find a way to talk him out of retirement," Ward said.

"From my perspective the guy's still got plenty to offer. We saw that Friday last week down in Melbourne - the guy threw seven innings and only gave up two earned runs in an elimination final.

"He just knows how to compete and that's probably what separates him from virtually every other pitcher in the country and a lot of pitchers that have played the ABL.

"It doesn't matter what the circumstance, first game of the season, championship game, the guy wants the ball and he wants to do whatever he can do to help the team win. You just can't replace people like that."