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Rugby League

Brian Carney retires from rugby league

16/01/2007

Great Britain winger Brian Carney has announced his decision to retire from rugby league with immediate effect.

The 30-year-old international is currently based in Australia, where he is contracted to Jetstar Gold Coast Titans, and the news has come as a shock to both the club and rugby league community.

In a statement on the club's website, managing director Michael Searle revealed Carney had confessed he had lost the motivation to continue playing and was now looking to return to the UK and start new challenges, including a masters degree.

While Searle and coach John Cartwright only discovered the news on Sunday after a meeting with Carney following training, the club signalled its backing for a player who has been a lynchpin of the Great Britain side.

"We totally support Brian in his decision to retire from professional football and support his decision to return home to commence his masters study at university and to be with his family," said Searle.

Carney declined to make any public comments but issued a statement saying the decision had been "the toughest of his life".

"I have made this decision with a heavy heart and it has been a difficult decision for me to make but I dearly want to get home to my family and I couldn't act like a fraud by taking the club's money when I knew in my heart I couldn't see the year out," he said.

Carney has asked the club to withhold a contractual release in order to quell any suggestions the move might be an attempt to return to play club rugby at the highest level in the UK.

A vice-captain with Great Britain, Carney played for Hull before moving to Wigan, scoring 42 tries.

Subsequently he moved to Australia to play for Newcastle Knights, after Wigan agreed an early release to enable him to begin his Antipodean career.

After a promising start in the NRL, effectively on loan at Newcastle, he was set to begin his contract with the Gold Coast, but has instead decided to return to home shores.

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