Cronulla jerseys emblazoned with Paul Gallen's image will feature as the farewells begin this weekend for one of the most durable NRL retiring classes of recent times.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The NRL will lose more than 2400 games of experience to retirements at the end of the season, including 300-gamers Cooper Cronk, Robbie Farah, John Sutton and Gallen.
Warhorse Matt Scott, veteran fullback Michael Gordon and evergreen journeymen like Jeremy Latimore and Blake Ayshford will also finish up, while Greg Inglis was forced to end his career earlier this year.
James Maloney and Gareth Widdop then sit atop a list of players leaving the NRL for England, with neither of them likely to return.
Combined, the NRL's departures account for 164 Tests for top-tier nations, 131 State of Origins and 17 premierships.
Cronk and Gallen's official farewells will come this week, with the pair to play their last regular season home matches at the SCG and Pointsbet Stadium respectively.
Scott will be honoured in Townsville, although it seems unlikely he will play another game for North Queensland after suffering a minor stroke last weekend.
Other players will then be in the spotlight before their home games in round 25.
But it is 38-year-old Gallen's farewell to the old Shark Park against Canberra that will likely trigger the most emotion this week as his 19 seasons there come to a close.
Sharks players will wear a jersey with the image of Gallen lifting the club's maiden premiership trophy, with a long list of his achievements alongside it.
Gallen is the Sharks' most-capped player with 345 appearances.
After a barren opening decade of his career, he won a World Cup with Australia in 2013, captained NSW to a drought-breaking Origin series win 2014 and clinched the Sharks' title in 2016.
"I know the club has got a few things up their sleeves to honour it" Cronulla coach John Morris said.
"I hope we fill the place out for our greatest-ever Shark in terms of games played.
"He has meant everything to this club over his career. I just hope we can honour it with a big game and good performance.
"Typical Gal, he does't want it about him. He just wants to win. As a team we have to team we have to dig deep and we've got to with Canberra coming."
The Roosters will honour Cronk at the SCG, although the five-time premiership winner will have at least two more games at the ground in the finals.
NRL'S RETIRING CLASS OF 2019
Cooper Cronk (Sydney Roosters) - 368 games
Paul Gallen (Cronulla) - 345 games
John Sutton (South Sydney) - 331 games
Robbie Farah (Wests Tigers) - 302 games
Matt Scott (North Queensland) - 268 games
Greg Inglis (South Sydney) - 263 games
Michael Gordon (Gold Coast) - 259 games
Jeremy Latimore (St George Illawarra) - 181 games
Blake Ayshford (Warriors) - 173 games
David Gower (Parramatta) - 117 games
Nathan Ross (Newcastle) - 60 games
Kaysa Pritchard - Parramatta - 47 games
NOTABLE ENGLAND-BOUND STARS
James Maloney (Penrith) - 245 games
Gareth Widdop (St George Illawarra) - 193 games
George Burgess (South Sydney) - 147 games
Sosaia Feki (Cronulla) - 146 games
Manu Ma'u (Parramatta) - 111 games
Australian Associated Press
