South Sydney star Greg Inglis has announced his retirement from rugby league, effective immediately.
One of the all-time greats, Inglis notched 263 first-grade games, including 146 for the Rabbitohs and 117 for the Melbourne Storm.
He played in five grand finals, claiming three premierships and also winning the Clive Churchill Medal in 2007. A five-time award-winning player, Inglis played 39 Tests for Australia and made 32 State of Origin appearances for Queensland, where he became Origin's all-time leading try scorer
The 32-year old called a press conference on Monday morning to reveal the news and will continue on at the Rabbitohs in a development coaching role.
“I’m not looking at today’s announcement as the end of my career. I’m looking at it as the start of my next one,” Inglis told reporters.
“I’ve been very fortunate to have had the playing career I have had, and to have played in some awesome teams with great team mates and under some great coaches. I want to thank them all for everything they have done for me and my family.
“This isn’t a decision I’ve taken lightly and over the last week, spending time with family and moving out of the spotlight, it has given me some clarity about the way forward for me and my family.
“People have always told me you’ll know when it’s time to retire from playing, and I know within myself that that time is now.
“My mind and body are telling me it’s time to move on to the next part of my career in this great sport and I’m really excited about making that transition and working with people like Wayne (Head Coach Wayne Bennett), Richo (General Manager of Football Shane Richardson), Blake (CEO Blake Solly) and Alisha (General Manager of Souths Cares Alisha Parker-Elrez) on making this Club the best it can be.
“I feel I have something to offer in coaching and I’m very keen to learn more from Wayne and the other coaches, and to work closely with the young players we have coming up through the grades here at the Rabbitohs. I feel that my experiences over the past 15 years will be of value to them and I want to pass those on.
“I’ve been meeting and working with Richo on a regular basis for more than two years now, learning the business of the Football Department and how all of that side of the club works.
“I’ve been active in Souths Cares and I’m keen to learn more about the community and administration side of the Club, so working with Alisha and Blake is a perfect way to do that.
“And I’ll also have the opportunity to work with Todd’s (Greenberg’s) team over at the NRL this year in their ambassador program which will be a good way to stay connected with the game as a whole.
“I want to thank everyone that has helped me throughout my career since I started playing as a kid, right through to representing my State and Country and the success my teams have had in winning premierships.
“I want to thank my family in particular and I look forward to spending more quality time with my kids.
“I owe everything to Rugby League and for that I will forever be grateful, and I feel as though I have given everything I’ve had to the game on the field. Now it’s time to give more back off the field.
“It’s been a great ride so far, and starting today, I can’t wait to get started on this next part of the journey.”
Get the brown bags and suitcases ready to cover the $1.5mil he is “sacrificing” that won’t be included in the cap as it is supposed to
Good luck Greg, enjoy your retirement from playing, I think it is the right decision mate.
Fake Queenslander
All the best greg.
Thanks for the memories.👍
Best fend in the game
I will remember him fondly for playing SOO for the wrong team, being part of the biggest salary cap rort in rugby league history, drink driving and smacking around his partner.
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
No respect Kev for a player who does more work with Charity and indegenous people, sure he slipped up but the good far outweighs the bad, most people , including you Kev, have done something they regret in life and how you deal with it is a measure of a person, so hoefully you’ll retract your last statement.
Souths will miss Inglis for sure , but will look after him in some capacity, as for your comment Bob Fulton, he has sacrificed his wages for the next 11/2 years and it will be up to the NRL do decide if his work in Souths cares and maybe ass coach will go on the cap, I don’t believe it will or it should, Souths signed Inglis in good faith and has nothing to do with rorting the system, i’ll even go out on a limb and say that even Woodduck would be saying good things about Inglis, I might dislike the dude for his truly one eyed comments, but i believe he will respect Inglis in this case.
Has for Souths winning the comp without Inglis, i do not think so, will make the semis, hopefully Souths can sign a marqee player next year to fill the gap.
If the NRL let the 1.5M off the cap that will be a joke and turn me off Rugby League for good.
The club decided to sign him he retired well bad luck souths cop it like the other 15 teams in the NRL would. Your no different o others. Inglis has screwed your cap and its up the Greenballs to bail you out of this one
Doggy, Inglis has sacrificed his pay, he does not want a pay out, what part of that don’t you understand, he elected to no payout so Souths would not be disadvantaged, any job outside of playing will be decided on by the NRL, but he won’t be getting 1.5m co coaching or working with Souths cares.
Fairwell champion, another Indigenous man entertaining us in the greatest show on earth, another in a long line of proud ,skilful, talented Aboriginal sportsman.
Thank you thank you thank you
“If the NRL let the 1.5M off the cap that will be a joke and turn me off Rugby League for good”
What a very silly statement. So you are not going to watch the sport that you like (presumed since you are commenting on a rugby league site) ever again simply because of a decision that a functionary in an admin office may or may not make.
Now I have heard everything.
I have to say that there are some right twits posing on this site.
Greg Inglis was a great player who played his best games at the Storm. He played well for Souths particularly in their premiership winning year but this last few years have been a struggle for him. I wish him all the best and I will always remember him for that unbelievable fend that he had. I just wish he had taken the chance to captain Australia, he deserved that. That last drink sure did cost him.
Technically, those are racist comments.
Well said & thats from a one eyed Rooster supporter!
If you actually believe that do you also believe in the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny???
About the same amount of truth in those stories.
It should 100% be included in the cap, that rule was bought in to stop these ludicrous deals that were never going to be fulfilled.
Manly were told dce no matter injuries or retirement we are covering his wage under the cap for his 8 years, this is exactly the same and should be treated as such.
Anybody who thinks Inglis won’t be getting a mil ++ a season now and next year are just fools
Agree with no respect comment , he was one of the most naturally gifted players to ever grace a football field .
Aboriginal, Indigenous footballers are in my opinion the greatest ! if you find that offensive it’s cause you require counsel
Money should be in the cap for this year no matter if he was an immortal or GI . Next year fair enough but considering he ain’t retiring on medical grounds this year your would think it has to be unless the nrl brink in another no fault policy called the Greg fund . .
1. I will remember him fondly for playing SOO for the wrong team. 100% CORRECT
2. Being part of the biggest salary cap rort in rugby league history. 100% CORRECT
3. Drink driving 50% CORRECT, Kev was 20kms over the speed limit while legally drunk.
4. And smacking around his partner. 100% CORRECT.
5. Also this is the 2nd time he has backflipped on working under Bennett. Remember he was about to sign a massive contract with Brisbane before souffffths purchased him from under their noses.
6. The first Aboriginal Australian captain NEVER to captain Australia on the Field in a theatre of war.
At the end of the day though I hope his mental demons do not turn him into another Steve Rogers or Peter Jackson just to name a couple. He was a brilliant footballer that had super human strength and speed. A magnificent athlete of the true form, not a dammed “race horse” wrongly called an athlete like Winks. Influenced the result of many games for Melbourne and soufffffths with his extraordinary footballing attributes. A true Champion on the field. Lets hope off the field he continues to grow as a human and be a wonderful husband and father to his family. All the Best. Thanks for the entertainment on the footy field. 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏🎬 souffffths without a fit Inglis is a massive blow😂😁😆🤣😂😁😆🤣😂😆😁🤣😂—–💪🐔👍
Your biased Western Rabbits ya CLOWN🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡, Eric Ferguson, Travis Robinson, Caleb Binge, Fred Briggs, Tyson Andrews, Palmer Wapau, Terry Wicky. I suppose these blokes are super hero’s because they have Aboriginal blood also.😂😆😁🤣😁😆😂🤣
You are horrible, from the anonymity of your computer you spew your toxic venom. I pity you, I know one day the toxic rubbish that runs inside you will consume you
BOO HOO WINGER!
Based on those you mention there are more days behind you and less ahead , hope that gets you thinking
BOO HOO WINGER!
BOO HOO WINGER!
Good luck GI, you were one of the best. If I were picking a team of the best players I have ever seen in their positions it would be this
Slater
Grothe Sr
Inglis
Steve Rogers
Johnny King
Wally Lewis
Joey Johns
Brad Clyde
Sirro
Tallis
Webke
Smith
Lazarus
Everyone would have a different side, but I’m pretty old and I would still put GI ahead of greats like Cronin, Meninga, O’Connor etc. And he was a better fullback than most except Slater and maybe Lockyer
Agree with a lot of them except brad clyde.
One of the biggest mysteries to me is why did people rate him as a top tier player.
It was like I was watching a different game.
Ha ha surprise surprise you’ve made an appearance on a rabbits article and all you’ve managed to say is boo hoo winger.
But he was a fullback/ centre and has played 5/8th but not too much on a wing, do you know how to spell “whinger “
And yes I’m picking your grammar as you’ve done it to me and numerous others often. But hey you mightn’t be up to that part In school yet
At the end of the day though I hope Inglis mental demons do not turn him into another Steve Rogers or Peter Jackson statistic just to name a couple. He was a brilliant footballer that had super human strength and speed. A magnificent athlete of the true form, not a silly “race horse” wrongly called an athlete like Winks. Inglis Influenced the result of many games for Melbourne and soufffffths with his extraordinary footballing attributes. A true Champion on the field. Lets hope off the field he continues to grow as a human and be a wonderful husband and father to his family learning from his previous mistakes. All the Best. Thanks for the entertainment on the footy field. souffffths without a fit Inglis is a massive blow😂😂😂😂😂😆🤣😁🤣😆😂😂😂😂—–💪🐔👍This is the 2nd time he has backflipped on working under Bennett. Remember he was about to sign a massive contract with Brisbane before souffffths purchased him from under their noses. Soufffffffths premiership hopes have been retired off for 2019😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂🐇🥄——–💪🐔👍👉——🐓🏆🐓🏆
Souths need to sign either james roberts or dylan walker or go all out for joseph manu from the rorters or even have a crack at mitchell.
The rorters would still be over the cap even if souths signed joseph manu and mitchell together the nrl lets nick the trick politis get away with it same as the storm bellamy in 16 years has never had a bad team and the nrl always makes sure that victoria has a top 4 team in the nrl blind freddy can see that fact…
Nick Politis has been at the Sydney Roosters since 1976 Shadow. So again you have no facts and no knowledge. He is a financial Wizard and was the first bloke to wack a sponsor on a footy jersey. Now because of that great brainwave every team has sponsors all over their clothes with multiple sponsors. Remember souffffths first sponsor Smiths Crisps was quite a while after the Roosters City Ford.
My entire point is the Roosters are run by professional business minded geniuses like Nick. That is why they are financially stable for the next 200years with plenty of Nick minded business minded geniuses linning up for many many years to come.
I wonder if GI will ever regret being a Traitor, why the hell did he played for the bananas when he was born in NSW, He was one of the greatest player ever, a traitor nevertheless
Greggo inglis he was fit at the start of the year then reports came out that he hurt himself at training with one of his knees, then the next report was he was 15kgs overweight, then the next report was when he lost the weight which he said he was still 5kg over weight that Bennett ask him if he wanted to play fullback.
Then the next thing was he got hurt during the Roosters game and then next game his shoulder was giving him grief and he couldn’t tackle.
Then the next thing was he was rested for a couple of weeks until he recovered then the final bit of information was that he was granted a week off to see where his head was and the next week he announced his retirement.
Soufffths are trying to pull a swiftie here because his shoulder was wrecked against the Mighty Roosters. Remember he played uninjured and played 20 games last season. This season he gets injured in the first game and then the diagnosis is not even an operation can fix it so he is by retiring trying to free up the salary cap when in reality he is out for the season through injury.
Just maybe when his family told him about land rights that they forgot to tell him you can’t choose your own allotment of land. Its a bit late to be a selector. 😂😂😂
I Think Ray Warren had a man crush on Clyde. or otherwise it was one word that rolled off his lips with plenty of volume with ease and developed into his favourite word.
Like you screamingeagle (your not an American Red skin are you>❓❓❓❓) I would laugh louder way back then almost as much as I laugh when p.e.n.z.0. mentions that soufffffths 🐇🥄🥄🥄🥄🥄🥄🥄🥄🥄average 10 thousand more fans per home game than the Roosters.
But getting back to the story I would laugh so hard when Rabs would call out at the top of his voice CLYDE❗❕❗❕❗❕❗❕❗❕ as soon as the ball was passed to him and off he would run for a two or three metre gain. Pathetic metres gained and He would get man of the match because Ray Warren called his name out the loudest.😂😁😆🤣😂😆🤣😂