I only want to come back for this season, win the championship and then quit.
smhMundine only keen on league this season
April 27, 2005 - 9:39PM
Boxer Anthony Mundine's rugby league comeback went from the improbable to the bizarre when he revealed his planned return to the game would be for this season only.
"I want to play this season only," Mundine told SBS television.
"Come back play 10, 12 games, that's including finals, and go to a team that's going to be a strong contender for a title.
"I'm really looking forward to doing that for my legacy. I need to win the title and then come back as a champion."
He was initially expected to return to rugby league after his May 11 world title bout with Denmark's Mikkel Kessler in Sydney.
However the WBA super middleweight title fight was postponed for up to two months after Kessler injured his back.
Mundine's manager Khoder Nasser said he hoped to reschedule the fight in the next 24 hours.
However the fight's postponement meant his return to league was also been put back.
Mundine has expressed an interest in returning to St George Illawarra, where he last played in 2000.
The club has shown some interest in having him back but it was not known how they felt about him playing for just the remainder of this season.
Mundine's latest comments drew instant condemnation from SBS rugby league analyst, former Test hooker Ben Elias.
"If any CEO out there that looks after an NRL club or any board of directors sign this bloke up ... they are dead-set kidding," Elias said.
Elias said Mundine had not even returned to rugby league and was already dictating terms to NRL clubs and questioned his commitment to making a comeback to the sport
"Stick to boxing my friend because you can't play for nine games and decide to play in a grand final," said Elias, who played in two grand finals for Balmain in the 1980s.
"You have to earn it and it's a team sport."
Dragons coach Nathan Brown said if Mundine returned he would not slip back into the five-eighth spot, the position he played before leaving to take up his boxing career.
Brown said Dragons skipper Trent Barrett had a mortgage on the five-eighth position.
"It's also a case of where Choc would like to play because obviously we've got Trent here, who's our captain," Brown said.
"That's again something you'd want to talk to Anthony about because if he dead-set thought he had to be playing five-eighth then that makes it a bit tough for us and would make it tough on some other clubs."
Meanwhile Mundine will travel to Auckland to support Kiwi boxer Shane Cameron in his IBF Australasian heavyweight title fight with Australian Colin Wilson on Friday night.
Mundine is also expected to commentate for New Zealand television at the fight.