Former NRL title-winning hooker Slade Griffin has been forced to retire at the age of 28 because of incessant injury problems.
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Griffin, who was part of Melbourne's 2017 grand final triumph, said he was "shattered" to call time on a career severely hampered by four knee reconstructions.
His last game was 18 months ago for the Newcastle Knights and without a contract for 2020 he announced in a social media post that the time had arrived to switch focus.
"I'm shattered the curtain has come down on what could have been. But I'm very grateful for what I was able to achieve," he said.
"I'll be forever in debt to the game and people of rugby league. It threw some curve balls at me but I accomplished things I thought were only possible in dreams."
Griffin played 25 games across five seasons at the Storm, primarily as a backup to Cameron Smith, and enjoyed a run of 16 successive starts for the Knights in 2018 before suffering another serious injury.
He made his New Zealand Test debut a week before his final game, in the loss to England in Denver.
Australian Associated Press