Updated
Cooper Cronk has announced his retirement from the NRL.
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.”
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.
“Those two guys [Smith and Slater] will go down in history as two of the greatest players of all time,” Cronk said.
“My job was pretty easy [at the Storm].
“A future Immortal would pass the ball to me and I’d pass it to another future Immortal. It was pretty cruisy.”
Cronk described Bellamy as “the most influential person on my footy career.”
“There are not too many people I respect more than Craig Bellamy,” he said.
“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.”
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