Des Hasler does his sales pitch to get Cronk to sign with the Dogs.
"Cronk announced on Tuesday morning he would not to take up the player option in his Storm contract for 2018 and instead move to Sydney to be with fiancee Tara Rushton.
Hasler held his own press conference some hours later, having re-signed with Canterbury on Monday, and was asked about the Kangaroos halfback's future.
I would be very surprised - why would Cooper Cronk come to Sydney to play rugby league?" he asked of reporters.
"You think he'll retire?" one asked back.
Hasler was quick to respond: "Yes, of course he will."
The coach did go on to say he had been on the training field and hadn't seen Cronk's press conference.
But he doubled down on his thoughts when another journalist said Cronk intends to remain an NRL player.
"Do you honestly think he'll retire?"
Yes, yeah."
Cronk does not have a Sydney club lined up but he also held back from outlining his future plans.
"I feel physically and mentally able to play for another couple of years but there's a lot to weigh up," Cronk said.
"There's my attachment to this football club for one thing; the other thing is once you're retired you're a long time retired.
"I don't have a timeline to make that decision."
"Obviously you're talking about the big four (Wests Tigers stars Moses, Brooks, James Tedesco and Aaron Woods) and people like Cooper Cronk," Hasler said in response to a question about the club's strategy.
"Any recruitment and retention committee is going to look at those players but at the moment there have been no formal approaches."
https://au.sports.yahoo.com/league/...arre-reaction-to-cooper-cronk-decision/#page1
