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Cooper Cronk has announced his retirement from the NRL.
Key points:
- Cooper Cronk has announced he will retire at the end of his 16th NRL season
- Cronk has won four NRL Premiership titles with the Storm and Roosters
- Cronk played 38 Test matches for Australia and 22 State of Origin games for Queensland
The two-time Dally M medallist will hang up his boots at the end of the 2019 season.
The 35-year-old Sydney Roosters halfback has played 357 NRL matches for the Melbourne Storm and Sydney Roosters, winning premierships with both sides.
"It's been one a hell of a ride," Cronk said at the SCG on Monday.
Brisbane-born Cronk started his NRL career in Melbourne, spending 14 seasons there, making 323 appearances and winning two premierships — in 2012 and 2017.
At his press conference, Cronk paid credit to those at the Storm who gave him the chance to start his career.
"Rugby league has given me an opportunity for a life that I never thought possible," Cronk said.
"Without the Melbourne Storm, I don't stand here today."
'It was pretty cruisy'
Cronk also paid credit to the three people who he credited as being the biggest influences on his career: former Melbourne, Queensland and Australia teammates Cameron Smith and Billy Slater, and coach Craig Bellamy.
"I don't think 'thanks' cuts it to be honest," Cronk said.
"Those two guys [Smith and Slater] will go down in history as two of the greatest players in their positions for as long as the game of rugby league is around.
"I'll be forever grateful for what those two guys did for me, both on the field and off the field.
"I'm really pleased and humbled by the fact that my name gets spoken about in the same breath as those two."
Cronk, with Smith and Slater, combined to make a lethal combination on the field for both the Storm and Queensland in the State of Origin arena.
Together, the trio won four grand finals with the Storm — in 2007, 2009, 2012 and 2017 — although the first two were later stripped after details of the Storm's salary cap breaches came to light.
"My job was pretty easy [at the Storm],' Cronk said.
"A future Immortal would pass the ball to me and I'd pass it to another future Immortal. It was pretty cruisy."
The trio were also pivotal in Queensland's decade of dominance at State of Origin level, winning seven titles in eight seasons together, only losing when Cronk was broke his arm in the opening stages of the 2014 series and missed game two completely.
However, Cronk's early return in game three sparked an emphatic 32-8 romp at Lang Park, and the Maroons went on to complete three more series victories.
Cronk paid special tribute to his coach at the Storm, describing Bellamy as "the most influential person on my footy career."
"There are not too many people I respect more than Craig Bellamy," he said.
"I wouldn't be having the career or the fond memories that I've had without Craig Bellamy, because he was a major impact on that.
"He's a mate first and a coach second. In terms of football the work ethic, the humility, the dedication and just what it takes to make it — he taught me that."
'One of the greats'
Cronk's current coach at the Roosters, Trent Robinson, paid credit to Cronk as "one of the greats", saying he made him a better coach.
"He came in 18 months ago and we knew were getting a top quality footballer," Robinson said.
"Then the man walked in and opened up straight away to each and every one of us and said 'I'm here for you, what do you need'.
"He's made me a better coach."
Cronk in turn said his experience at the Roosters helped make him a better player and that "life has never been better" since moving to Sydney to be closer to wife Tara Rushton.
"I thank [the Roosters] from the bottom of my heart and the part that they played for the last 18 months, and I look forward to the next six months because they sacrificed a lot for me to come here and I still don't think that I've lived up to that," he said.
"I'll do everything to repay that debt."
Cronk rules out coaching
Cronk said that his focus for the rest of the season is helping develop the Roosters young players develop into stars that will help deliver the club another Premiership.
"There's still a lot of football to be played.
"My job here is to make sure the Roosters are a little bit closer to winning that next Premiership."
Despite paying credit to the two coaches he has worked under, Bellamy and Robinson, Cronk ruled out following his mentors and embarking on a coaching career himself.
"I won't coach," Cronk said.
"If I'm standing here at 50 years of age and I've got a coach's microphone, you've got my permission to slap me around the head."
Cronk earned 38 caps for Australia — winning both World Cups that he played in — and played 22 times for Queensland in State of Origin.
The inspirational halfback retired from representative football after the 6-0 World Cup final victory over England in 2017.
He follows fellow Maroons legends Slater, Johnathan Thurston and Greg Inglis in bowing out of the game in recent years.
Topics: sport, rugby-league, nrl, australia, nsw, sydney-2000
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