Hookey chooses family

[Danny]

Souths player Lee Hookey has given up the game to spend more time with his family. Well done! Good to see that the NRL does have some family men amongst them. Hopefully he has got a good cash reserve and can retire a happy man.

Are footballer's too busy these days to have a functional home life?

[Danny]

With the NRL's annual conferece coming up there's talk that the NRL doesn't think the players are over worked. They have no plans to cut the 26 round season or the yearly Kangaroo tour.


Shorter season opposed
By Stuart Honeysett
December 8, 2004
FOX SPORTS

THE future of the Tri-Nations tournament is seemingly on a collision course with clubs at the NRL's annual conference starting in Sydney today.

The two-day conference will cover several subjects but the length of the season is expected to provide the most lively debate.

The NRL has committed to another 26-round season next year plus four weeks of finals but the prospect of having a shorter regular season in 2006 or 2007 will come up for discussion.

It is unlikely clubs would support any move in this direction because it would affect their bottom line, leaving the international arena as the likely target to reduce players' workload.

The issue is timely as the bulk of the Kangaroo squad arrives in Sydney today after their seven-week tour that included games in New Zealand, England, France and the United States.

ARL chief executive Geoff Carr said there was already a push to hold the Tri-Nations again at the end of the 2005 season after the success of this year's tournament.

"The view from Britain and New Zealand is that we need to play it again next year to consolidate it as a brand because Australia and Britain have television rights negotiations coming up and they both believe it will be a very worthwhile TV property," Carr said yesterday.

Carr said he hadn't spoken to the clubs about the issue yet and while he could appreciate their position, the international game came first.

"There's two options to shorten the season: one is to shorten the club season and one is to get rid of the representative program," Carr said.

"Now for the good of the game you'd have to argue the first thing that should go is a shortened club season.

"Now I appreciate that the clubs have financial issues but the other thing you've got to keep in mind is if the Tri-Nations becomes the product we think it will, it will generate revenue for the game."

Clubs called by The Australian yesterday all supported the international game, but were divided on the issue over whether it should be played at the end of every year.

The Sydney Roosters had five players involved in the tournament - Craig Wing, Anthony Minichiello and Craig Fitzgibbon (Australia), Adrian Morley (Britain) and Jason Cayless (New Zealand) - and chief executive Brian Canavan said he wanted to see a proposal from the ARL before committing for 2005.

"This is in consideration of the health and safety of our players," Canavan said.

"We support the concept and it was an enormous success this year, but we're concerned about the wear and tear on players.

"We'd have to see the proposal of how many games and how much travel and all that sort of thing."

As for the other alternative, of shortening the season to reduce the burden on players, Canavan said: "We'd all like to shorten the season but we've go to pay the bills. We have talked about that at board level and our board virtually said because of revenue from the games we'd have to stick with the 26."

St George Illawarra chief executive Peter Doust said he was comfortable with the tournament being held every year provided the players' demands were being met.

"At the end of the debate, international rugby league should be supported wherever we can and the money has been good which has been redirected into the game so I say go ahead," Doust said.

* South Sydney centre Lee Hookey, 25, announced his retirement from the game yesterday.

"I've enjoyed my time playing football but I just don't have the desire to train and play on," Hookey said.

* Kangaroo winger Matt Sing, 29, retired from representative football yesterday on his arrival home from the Tri-Nations tournament.

Additional reporting: AAP

The Australian