knights no. 1
Con Mika
Carroll's final campaign
By Steve Ricketts
January 11, 2008
BRISBANE hitman Tonie Carroll has played his last game for Queensland and will retire from the NRL at the end of the 2008 season.
Carroll, who turns 32 next month, said his body was telling him it was time to hang up the boots after 12 years as a professional footballer. He plans to dedicate his final season to his family.
A veteran of seven Tests for Australia and 18 State of Origin games for Queensland, Carroll also has featured in four Broncos grand final-winning sides.
He said he owed a big final season to the Broncos, where he has played since 1996, a stint only split by two seasons with English club Leeds in 2001-2002.
"It was a massive decision to turn my back on representative football but I believe I am giving it up for a bigger goal," Carroll said.
"The Broncos have been so good to me and I just want to achieve as much as I can at the club in my final year.
"This year is for myself and my wife (Katrina) and two boys (Joshua, 8 and Bailey, 3) and I really want to go out on a high.
"My body is telling me it's time. I couldn't train properly last year and even at the start of this year it's the same so I think that's a sign it's time to hang up the boots."
Carroll has completed a business certificate course and already has a job lined up after football with Wilson Allen Estate Agents at Main Beach on the Gold Coast.
Carroll's experience will be vital this year but he expects the younger players to take on a heavier workload.
"I don't think I have to take on more responsibility," he said.
"There is a lot more on the shoulders of the players coming through. They all have to step up to the mark and take ownership of their role in the team."
Carroll missed the Broncos' 40-0 loss to Melbourne in the first week of the 2007 finals because of an elbow injury which needed two lots of surgery in the off-season.
"I was very disappointed with the way things panned out," he said.
"Missing that semi-final was hard and towards the back end of the season I just kept getting injured.
"Up until then I was pretty happy with the year. I got moved around a bit and playing five-eighth was an experience. I just want to focus on winning a back-row spot this year."
Carroll played second row for Queensland last year with Melbourne's Dallas Johnson at lock.
He was granted leave to play for New Zealand, the country of his birth, in the 2000 World Cup after failing to make the Australian side.
But on his return to Australia from England he forced his way into the Kangaroos line-up for the 2004 Tri-Nations.
Broncos utility David Stagg and winger Denan Kemp will begin contact work at training Friday for the first time since off-season shoulder surgery.
By Steve Ricketts
January 11, 2008
BRISBANE hitman Tonie Carroll has played his last game for Queensland and will retire from the NRL at the end of the 2008 season.
Carroll, who turns 32 next month, said his body was telling him it was time to hang up the boots after 12 years as a professional footballer. He plans to dedicate his final season to his family.
A veteran of seven Tests for Australia and 18 State of Origin games for Queensland, Carroll also has featured in four Broncos grand final-winning sides.
He said he owed a big final season to the Broncos, where he has played since 1996, a stint only split by two seasons with English club Leeds in 2001-2002.
"It was a massive decision to turn my back on representative football but I believe I am giving it up for a bigger goal," Carroll said.
"The Broncos have been so good to me and I just want to achieve as much as I can at the club in my final year.
"This year is for myself and my wife (Katrina) and two boys (Joshua, 8 and Bailey, 3) and I really want to go out on a high.
"My body is telling me it's time. I couldn't train properly last year and even at the start of this year it's the same so I think that's a sign it's time to hang up the boots."
Carroll has completed a business certificate course and already has a job lined up after football with Wilson Allen Estate Agents at Main Beach on the Gold Coast.
Carroll's experience will be vital this year but he expects the younger players to take on a heavier workload.
"I don't think I have to take on more responsibility," he said.
"There is a lot more on the shoulders of the players coming through. They all have to step up to the mark and take ownership of their role in the team."
Carroll missed the Broncos' 40-0 loss to Melbourne in the first week of the 2007 finals because of an elbow injury which needed two lots of surgery in the off-season.
"I was very disappointed with the way things panned out," he said.
"Missing that semi-final was hard and towards the back end of the season I just kept getting injured.
"Up until then I was pretty happy with the year. I got moved around a bit and playing five-eighth was an experience. I just want to focus on winning a back-row spot this year."
Carroll played second row for Queensland last year with Melbourne's Dallas Johnson at lock.
He was granted leave to play for New Zealand, the country of his birth, in the 2000 World Cup after failing to make the Australian side.
But on his return to Australia from England he forced his way into the Kangaroos line-up for the 2004 Tri-Nations.
Broncos utility David Stagg and winger Denan Kemp will begin contact work at training Friday for the first time since off-season shoulder surgery.
