Andy Last’s interesting comments on Jake Mamo’s “shock” retirement

Jake Mamo’s shock decision to retire from rugby league has been confirmed by interim Castleford Tigers Head Coach Andy Last.

When Last came into the vacant role on an interim basis Mamo was out of the side already.

The former Huddersfield Giants and Warrington Wolves outside back joined the Tigers after a brilliant 2021 season with Warrington where he cemented himself as a centre having previously been a utility player or a fullback in his days with the Giants.

He was a big signing for the Tigers replacing Peter Mata’utia who followed Daryl Powell to Warrington and replaced Mamo there.

Given the number four shirt, Mamo was unable to capture the form he had shown at Warrington in 2021 though there were glimpses.

Ahead of 2023 he was dropped to the number 21 shirt and admitted in interviews that he was now no more than a backup.

He did start the opening game of the season on the wing in place of Greg Eden and got over the whitewash and he was then sensational against Champions St Helens in Round Two except for being unable to turn his amazing breaks into tries.

Part way through that game he was taken off but when asked if it was down to performance then coach Lee Radford confirmed it was back spasms and would go on to say Mamo was “walking like Terminator.”

Mamo missed the defeat to Wigan Warriors in Round Three which would prove to be his last in charge.

Rumours then circulated that Mamo wanted a release from his deal ahead of the Round Four game against his former side Huddersfield Giants.

It was then reported that he wanted to retire though Andy Last pushed against this but today ahead of their game against Leeds Rhinos confirmed that Mamo was retiring to BBC Radio Leeds.

He made some interesting comments on the decision: “He has been suffering with a back injury and due to medical reasons and how he is feeling with his body, he has made the decision to retire from top level rugby league which came as a little bit of a shock but he has suffered some knocks and bangs to the heads and concussions in the last couple of years and he couldn’t quite shake off this back injury.”

He went on to say that there were no indications that he would make this decision:

“He didn’t really show any signs that he was going to come to this decision. He came through pre-season okay and then picked up a knock in one of the games and has struggled to shake it off.

“He has some scarring from a mental point of view with regards to injuries from earlier in his career and it has obviously impacted him and on how he is feeling.”