Blaxland native Peter Wallace, one of the toughest NRL players in the modern era, says it will be sad not to be on the field but no less satisfying should the Panthers go on to win the NRL title without him.
The Penrith captain, who went to school at Blaxland East Public and Blaxland High, was forced to retire on June 12 due to injury, announcing the end of a career that included 240 NRL games for the Panthers and Brisbane and four NSW State of Origin appearances.
"I've always been able to play and train with injuries and a bit busted, but it's getting harder," said the 32-year-old, who had been sidelined in recent weeks with a shoulder injury.
Penrith's general manager of football, Phil Gould, made the startling revelation Wallace had played the last two years without an anterior cruciate ligament in his knee. "Peter has repeatedly played for the club with injuries that would keep the normal man home in bed," Gould said.
After undergoing reconstructions on his right knee in 2006, 2014 and 2015, Wallace only discovered he had played without an ACL after he jarred his knee against Parramatta in round eight last year. This was the same player who once refused to come from the field and played through 50 minutes of pain with a ruptured ACL in a game against Canberra in Bathurst.
Teammates and rival players hailed Wallace's toughness last week. A fitting end for the selfless warrior, who shifted from the halves to hooker out of necessity, would have been keen to hoist the Provan-Summons Trophy high in the middle of ANZ Stadium on the first Sunday of October. Penrith, the joint competition favourites, could well be there, but for Wallace such a fairytale farewell was not to be.
"I made the decision last week and it got to the point I wasn't able to give my all. I needed to train well to play well and I couldn't," Wallace told Fairfax Media.
"The team is going well, so I thought it was time. It's hard but the right thing to do.”
Wallace is expected to move into a coaching role with the club.
