Body tells Creagh it's time
Mitch Jennings@@Mitch_Jenno
18 Aug 2016, 1:46 p.m.
DRAGONS veteran Ben Creagh knew that the day would come, but it didn’t make calling time on his NRL career after 270 games with the one club any easier on Thursday.
RED V DEVOTEE: St George Illawarra club-captain Ben Creagh says retiring a one-club player is his greatest source of pride. Picture: Chris Chan
It was far from a fitting end for the 31-year-old, who was forced into early retirement by a chronic knee injury. If anyone deserved a proper send-off on the playing paddock it was Creagh but rarely in rugby league do players get to write their own scripts.
Instead his goodbye came in a cramped dressing shed in the bowels of WIN Stadium but it says plenty about Creagh that he walked away feeling grateful rather than bitter. At the very least someone else might finally get a crack at the ‘nicest man in league’ title.
“I feel as though I’ve been really lucky to play that many games before this happened so I’m not too sad or disappointed,” Creagh said.
“If I look back 13 years ago when I made my debut, people who saw that game or watched me play my first five games...I’d have been a thousand to one to play this many games for the club.
“I was pretty positive after the surgery earlier in the season but the longer the season’s gone on, with all the running and the rehab that I’ve done, my knee’s not getting better. The infection was a bit of a shock, having to go back in and get it cleaned out.
“I didn’t expect that at all but I think my knee was telling me something with all that going on and it’s said it’s time now. It’s a shame I couldn’t get a few more games but that’s footy.”
While his body was telling him in no uncertain terms that it was time, arriving at the decision in his own mind was still a tough process.
“It has been creeping up the longer the season has gone on,” Creagh said.
“Mary and the coaching staff have been really good to me this year. No one’s forced my hand, they said to me right from the start ‘take as much time as you want and when you make a decision we’ll back you’.
“Still, to come to that decision isn’t an easy one. I’ve had lot of conversations with my family and they just want me to do what’s best for my health and right now this is the best decision I could make.”
If fairy tale finishes are rare, it’s a sad fact of modern rugby league that one-club players like Creagh are becoming even rarer. Among all the accolades he’ll take with him as he goes, that fact remains the greatest source of pride for the Wollongong University junior.
“Earlier in my career I didn’t really know the significance of playing for one club but as my career went on I really wanted to make sure I stayed here as long as I could,” Creagh said.
“Once early on in my career after the 2005 Kangaroo Tour I got an offer from another club after and I knocked it back and the rest of the time after that I told my manager ‘from now on just negotiate with the Dragons, I want to stay here’.
“I’m very proud that I did stay at the club. It’s a great club with a wonderful culture and wonderful people in it. I can reminisce a bit now and look back on a few things and it’s a pretty special achievement.”
http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/4105553/retiring-creagh-proud-to-stay-one-club-man/?cs=2382
