England and Super League star makes surprising retirement admission

Jermaine McGillvary has been one of the best wingers in Super League in recent times.

However, his career could be coming to an end. In the last year of his deal at Huddersfield Giants and at 34 with a knee that won’t straighten, McGillvary understands that the end of his career isn’t far away but he still loves playing the game.

“I might be 34 but I don’t want to sit on the sidelines or sit on the bench watching the team. I hate it. I want to be out there performing, competing, winning,” he said.

“It’s good for me at this stage of my career to have boys at my heels to take the spot off me. As well it will help them as I’ll compete hard and they’ll have to compete hard to take my spot.”

When asked if he had decided what he was going to do beyond 2023, he admitted he had not made a decision yet but would only do one more season max.

“I’ve not made a decision yet. If I do it’ll probably be one more year max, absolute maximum. I’ve still not decided yet, I’ve not sat down with Watto and really I’m probably not in a position to at the moment.

“I’ve not played that much and I’m still getting little injuries and stuff like that. It’s probably down to me and how I perform and how I keep fit. If I perform and I’m doing well then it gives me more of a shout to get a new deal, if not it might be that that’s it for me.

“I enjoy it. I’d probably say I enjoyed it more when I was younger, it’s not nice after games when it takes a little bit longer to recover. I still enjoy it, I will miss it. That’s why I probably do want to do an extra year but at the end of the day it’s my body and the coach that will decide that.

“Once I retire I know for a fact that I’ll miss it, I proper will miss it. It’s given me everything.”