Irishman Brian Carney has stunned the rugby league world by announcing his retirement at the age of 30. He hangs up his boots just 24 hours after returning to training with National Rugby League newcomers Gold Coast Titans.
Titans managing director Michael Searle and coach John Cartwright announced that the player - who on the international stage lines out for Great Britain - had undergone a change of heart and no longer had the desire to play.
Carney said: "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.
"The boys are a great bunch of lads and I could not do it to them. Continuing on would have been for all the wrong reasons and I have never played the game for money. It has been for the challenge and I know my mind is not up for this new challenge."
Carney, a one-time Gaelic footballer, experienced a meteoric rise in the game after being spotted by Gateshead Thunder playing student rugby league in Ireland in 1998.
He played for Hull in 2000 before moving to Wigan, where he scored 42 tries in 101 appearances before beginning his Australian stint with Newcastle Knights last season.
Carney was voted best winger in his inaugural season in the NRL and was Britain's vice-captain in each of the last two Tri-Nations Series. He won his 14th cap in the Lions' 23-12 win over Australia in Sydney in November.
The Irishman insists there will be no about-turn.
"To ensure there is no speculation about my future I have told the Titans to hold back a contractual release so that offer may go some way to ensure that media speculation is not about me doing this to go back to Great Britain to play rugby league or rugby union," he added.
"I have made this decision to return home so I can go back to the UK to finish my Masters and to reunite with my family. I have always made decisions for me and now it is time for me to make a decision that is in the interests of my family."
