Rob Burrow will become the latest member of Leeds Rhinos’ golden generation to end his playing days with the club after announcing he will retire at the conclusion of the season to begin an off-field role with the seven-time Super League champions.
The 34-year-old, who has won every honour in the domestic game since his debut for Leeds in 2001, will join the club’s captain, Danny McGuire, in leaving the playing squad. Unlike McGuire, however, who is joining Hull Kingston Rovers, Burrow will take up a role in the Rhinos’ youth development programme.
He said: “It has been an honour to play for Leeds my entire career and I feel now is the right time to move on to the next chapter in my career. I have been part of so many fantastic memories down the years and hopefully we can create a few more in the months ahead before I hang up my boots.”
Burrow’s retirement will bring the curtain down on one of the finest careers of the modern era. As a youngster he faced questions about whether he would be big enough to make the grade – he is only 5ft 5in – but the Great Britain international became one of the Rhinos’ greatest scrum-halves, proving there is a place in the game for smaller players.
Leeds already knew McGuire was heading for pastures new next year but with Burrow departing too, it leaves the club facing the daunting challenge of replacing over 900 games’ worth of experience in 2018.
The situation evokes memories of two seasons ago when, motivated by the departures of Jamie Peacock, Kevin Sinfield and Kylie Leuluai, the Rhinos won the treble and sent the trio out on a high. However, the following season was a struggle as they became embroiled in a relegation battle.
That is unlikely to be the case next season, with Leeds now in a much better position to adapt to life without more of their all-time greats, but the impact of McGuire and Burrow’s departures will still be sorely felt.
Most clubs, let alone players, would yearn for a trophy cabinet like Burrow’s. He has won seven Super League titles, three World Club Challenge titles, two Challenge Cups and the honour of being named the Harry Sunderland Trophy winner, awarded to the Grand Final’s man of the match, on two separate occasions.
However, it is the second of those triumphs, in 2011, which is the most notable. With the game against St Helens level approaching half-time, Burrow produced what many consider to be the finest try in Grand Final history; a wonderful solo effort, ducking, weaving and twisting his way around several opposition players before touching down.
Leeds would eventually win the game 32-16, and every single vote for the man-of-the-match award from the Rugby League Writers’ Association went to Burrow: the first and only time that has occurred.
Diminutive in stature but a giant of the modern era, there is little doubt that Leeds will have all the motivation required to send two more of their finest players out on the ultimate high, with an eighth Grand Final victory this October.
But for all the honours Burrow has won, perhaps his greatest legacy is how he has helped the sport shed the tired stereotype that smaller players cannot excel.
