Rugby League's Quiet Achiever | Thebigtip

He may never have been the fastest or the most skillful. Never the most talented and hardly the biggest. But Canterbury Bulldogs captain Andrew Ryan will retire this weekend knowing he has given the game everything he had. He has been called boring and even overrated in the past. But never by a Bulldogs player or supporter. He is a true leader amongst men.

He may have started his career at the Parramatta Eels, but the backrower will forever be remembered as one of the great Bulldogs captains. Ryan is to the Bulldogs what Alan Tongue was for the Canberra Raiders. He has become part of the very fabric which makes the Belmore club what they are today. The family club they once were.

It is fitting then that Ryan would face Tongue and the Raiders in his final game. Tongue too will retire this weekend.

“Finishing my career here at the Bulldogs was always of utmost importance to me,” Ryan said on announcing his retirement from the game.

“While there were options to play a few more years in England, opportunities here outweighed the temptation to go around again. I’m very excited to announce this is not the end of my time in rugby league. I have been offered a full time role working within the NRL’s education and welfare portfolio, which gives me the opportunity to give back to something that has given me so much.

“I am looking forward to finishing off my time as a Bulldogs player in the best possible fashion whilst at the same time looking forward to what lay ahead once my playing career is finished.”

Some retiring players thrive on the attention and the media hype surrounding their last game. But Ryan has this calmness about him that when you listen to him, you believe him. When he tells you its just a game, you remember that it is just a game.

This isn't to say that Ryan doesn't deserve to be remembered as a guy that played in the wrong era. An era full of giant bodies moving at the speed of light. Ryan was built to be tough. A toiler who would have started in any of the golden teams of the 1980's.

"It (the game) has got a lot more professional in regards to ice baths, technology and GPS. The interchange has changed a few times and the speed of the game has also changed a fair bit since I made my debut."

He is a man that has played 213 games for the Bulldogs which includes an NRL grand final win in 2004 where along with Steve Price, held the premiership trophy aloft. He was also picked to represent Australia 11 times while he played for his state on 12 occasions.

The 2004 grand final victory over the Sydney Roosters is his career highlight.

"..Has to be the 2004 premiership with the Bulldogs, without doubt. That's what rugby league is all about. Every player wants to do it and it was the highlight of my career".

The Bulldogs would need a miracle to make this years finals. A miracle that would give Ryan the fitting farewell he deserves. But this is the National Rugby League, the closest competition in the country and dreams are more regularly shattered then realised.

So Sunday's game against the Raiders will be Ryan's last. A game in which every person from his hometown of Dubbo has been invited to come watch the game for free. That's how much he has meant to the club.