Former Great Britain international Jermaine McGillvary has announced his decision to hang up his boots at the end of the 2024 campaign. McGillvary has spent 17 years in the game as a player and at the age of 36, he has decided this season will be his last on the pitch.
The winger has spent this season with Championship club Wakefield Trinity, where he has touched down for 11 tries in 13 appearances. As such, while he already has a 1895 Cup win at Wembley Stadium under his belt for the club, he’ll be determined to bow out on a high by helping Wakefield to the Championship title.
The West Yorkshire outfit are 13 points clear at the top of the second tier at present and are expected to be promoted to Super League whether they succeed in the play-offs or not. But winning more silverware would certainly be a fitting end to a remarkable career for McGillvary.
Of course, McGillvary spent most of his career with Huddersfield Giants, making 312 appearances for the club before joining Wakefield at the end of the 2023 season. In that time he won the League Leaders’ Shield and a spot in the 2015 Super League Dream Team. He also represented the club in the 2022 Challenge Cup final.
The Wakefield man is sixth on the all time Super League top try scorers list, touching down 196 times. He has scored 12 tries in 17 appearances for England, too, and he was included on the Great Britain tour of the Southern Hemisphere in 2019, picking up four caps.
Reflecting on his career, the retiring McGillvary said: “Being able to make my family proud has been amazingly special and also the best part about my career! I’m so grateful for what the game has done for me.
“There’s been some low points but they have made me appreciate all the highs. I’ve travelled the world and made so many memories along the way, it has truly been a blessing. The 2017 World Cup in Australia probably being the most stand out for me, getting to lock horns with the world’s best and showing what I was capable of on the biggest stage.
“I’d like to thank all of my teammates past and present, staff, the fans and also people within and outside of rugby league who have helped me along the way as without you all I wouldn’t have been the player I became…forever grateful!”
