Salford full-back Luke Patten has announced he will hang up his boots at the end of the 2012 season and return home to Australia.
Australian hoping to sign off in style with an appearance in play-offs
Salford full-back Luke Patten has announced he will hang up his boots at the end of the season and return home to Australia.
The 32-year-old, who broke the news to his City Reds team-mates on Tuesday afternoon, is in his second season in England.
However he will not be completing the three-year deal he initially signed with the Stobart Super League club after realising his body was no longer able to go through the rigours of both playing and training.
"My body has made this decision for me," said Patten, who arrived from Canterbury Bulldogs.
"I'm a player who has always got confidence from training really hard, but these days it takes me all week to recover from a game so I can't do that as well I want to."
Ever-present
Patten played more than 300 NRL games and was an ever-present in his first year with Salford.
He missed his first match for the Reds when he sat out Sunday's Challenge Cup win at Whitehaven but he is hoping to help his current employers reach the play-offs before he calls it quits and heads back Down Under.
"The team has played better this year in patches and I have enjoyed that, but I'm still not at where I want myself to be," he said.
"I want to go out after a strong season. I guess I don't want to embarrass myself as the guy who had one season too many.
"I'm comfortable with the decision and want to go out playing really well and help the Reds make the top eight and look at beating Leeds in the next round of the Challenge Cup."
Patten has spoken about possibly taking up refereeing or staying in the game on the administrative side, but he added: "I have no concrete plans to be honest.
"After today people will know I'm available and we'll see what happens. I think refereeing is out of the question now because of the training but I certainly want to stay involved in the game."
