Australia rugby league star Inglis to retire
Australian league star Greg Inglis will retire from representative rugby at the end of 2019 and from the national competition the following year, the one time Kangaroos skipper said Friday. The 32-year-old's shock announcement came just days after he was handed an 18-month good behaviour bond for a drink-driving incident last year that saw him stripped of the Australian captaincy. "It's purely my decision and something I have been thinking about for the last two-and-a-half months," Inglis told members of his club, the South Sydney Rabbitohs, via a video message. "At the end of 2020 I'll be hanging up the boots. I'll be giving up the game but I'll be staying around this club for a long time after I retire." Inglis was stripped of his Kangaroos captaincy and suspended for two games in October after being caught drink-driving just hours after he was appointed to the role. The South Sydney star had been drinking at a hotel after attending an indigenous sports carnival and said he mistakenly felt he was under the limit and able to drive the next day. A New South Wales court on Monday handed Inglis a suspended sentence, with the judge noting his remorse, public apology and community work. "For the next two years I'll be giving everything I can to this great club. 2019 will be my last rep season, therefore I'll be solely concentrating on the mighty South Sydney Rabbitohs," he added. Inglis played six seasons with the Melbourne Storm before moving to the Rabbitohs in 2011, where he won a drought-breaking premiership in 2014. His club on Friday paid tribute to one of the game's leading indigenous role models. "Greg has been an iconic leader at the South Sydney Rabbitohs and in the indigenous world," Rabbitoh's football manager Shane Richardson said in a statement. Inglis has been a mainstay for both Australia and Queensland since 2006. "This may come as a surprise to a lot of people, (but) I think it is time for me to hang up the boots at the end of my contract," Inglis said. Greg Inglis lost his captaincy of the Kangaroos after being caught drunk-driving last year
