Liam Finn calls time on 19-year career
Former Ireland captain Liam Finn has announced that he will retire from rugby league at the end of the season.
The 37-year-old half-back, currently playing in the Championship with Dewsbury, will hang up the boots at the season’s end following a 19-year professional playing career.
Finn has made more than 450 career appearances for Halifax, Wakefield, Featherstone, Castleford, Widnes, Newcastle and Dewsbury. He won 32 caps for Ireland on the international stage.
Finn said: “I feel as though I’m ready to finish now because this year has been the first time ever that I’ve lost a bit of the enjoyment you need to get the best out of yourself.
“The sacrifices that you make to be a pro or semi-pro player started to outweigh my desire and I just knew I couldn’t give it my all anymore.
“I’ve had a great time throughout the course of my career and made some good friends and I appreciate all the opportunities I’ve been given through the sport of rugby league.
“I’ve had some great times at most of the clubs I’ve been at and I think I’ve done a decent job in whatever role I had in any team. I hope I was a good team-mate to play alongside and if I was I’m more than happy with that.
“It will be nice to finish at home with Dewsbury this weekend as it was the place where my career started to really get going and felt I matured into a proper first team player here.
“I’ve got no major plans for retirement but I want to spend more time watching my kids play sports or whatever else they want to do and I think my partner Laura will appreciate having me around to help a bit more.”
Finn, who played in three World Cups for Ireland, will play his last ever game this weekend when Dewsbury take on Oldham in the final game of the Championship season.
Dewsbury coach Lee Greenwood said: “Liam has been a class act for a long time. To influence games in the way he has for such a long time speaks volumes of him as a player and as a person.
“He has been a credit to himself and his family throughout his long career and it is a pleasure for me to call him a good friend.
“The players around him won’t realise how good he has been to train and play alongside until he’s gone.
“I wish him all the best in the future and I really hope that in some capacity he will stick around in rugby league.”
