Kriss Brining: York City Knights hooker announces retirement

York City Knights hooker Kriss Brining has retired from rugby league with immediate effect.

The 28-year-old has made the decision to hang up his boots after a run of setbacks in the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

Brining made more than 150 career appearances for York in the Championship and Salford in Super League.

Kriss Brining on his decision to retire

He said: “I have been thinking about it for a little bit of time now. Obviously in the last couple of years I’ve had a fair few injuries.

“I’ve been unlucky with that so that’s one of the reasons. But another is that my wife is American and she’s moved halfway around the world for me.

“She’s at home a few nights a week by herself and there’s days where I only see her for 10 or 15 minutes. That was another reason but there’s work as well.

“It’s a perfect storm of circumstances where a few things have made me think it’s the right time to retire.

“With the injuries, I’ve had enough of putting my family through worrying how long I’ll be on the pitch so yeah, there’s a few different things that make this the right time.

“Whenever I’ve gone to a game and you see the amount of fans that want to talk to you, want to wish you the best, it’s pretty special. They are great people and the amount of conversations I’ve had with them, as well… Unfortunately, most of mine have been around injuries and when I will be back, but all the ever cared about was me being fit and healthy, being back on the pitch doing what I have loved to do for so long.

“Even when I was at Salford, there would be York fans sending me tweets. They really followed my journey, they’ve been absolutely immense throughout the whole process and my whole career.”

PLAY: Our free Fantasy Rugby League competition is back for 2022