Wigan Warriors: Thomas Leuluai says he was determined to leave the club in a good position before announcing his retirement

The club captain has announced he will retire at the end of the season, but will remain at the Robin Park Arena as part of Matty Peet’s coaching staff.

Leuluai states he didn’t play a season too long but wanted to stay for the 2022 campaign to help improve on last year’s finish.

He said: “It’s a decision I made a long time ago really. I suppose announcing it now is just the right time.

“I knew at the start at the start of the season it would be my last, and as it went on I knew it was the right call.

“The club is doing well and is in good hands.

“It’s been something I’ve been thinking about for the last couple of years and have just been trying to work out when it was the right time to call it a day.

“I’m really content with the decision. I’ve not been shy in making the announcement.

“A lot of people have been asking if I’m sad, but there’s nothing like that. A bit of relief hits you a little, because I’ve been playing a hell of a long time.

“I just feel incredibly lucky that I’ve been able to make the decision on my own terms, and it’s not been made for me through injury or anything like that, so now just felt right.

“For the last couple of years I’ve been waiting for a reason to finish, I didn’t want to go a year too long or anything like that.

“One of my big reasons for coming back for this season was to make sure the club was left in a better position.

“I felt if I had left last year, then I wouldn’t have done my job properly in terms of leading the next bunch through.

“I wanted to leave things in a good place. Matty (Peet) has done a fantastic job with the culture and the coaching.

“I’ve been going for 20 years and didn’t really want to keep playing forever or even for this long, but one thing just led to another, I was still playing alright and the club was still keen to keep me.

“I suppose in the last couple of years my job has been leading the club. I wanted to make sure we had a good group of boys who could make the club proud, and we’ve done that this season.

“I’m really by the way the club has turned around from last year and where we are with the culture around the club. All the boys are good people.”

Leuluai says he’s ready for the challenge of becoming assistant coach next season, but is concentrating on finishing this campaign first.

“It’s something that’s been there for a while,” he added.

“I’m looking forward to it, but I want to focus on playing and making sure I do my job for the team in these next few games to finish off the year as well as we can.

“In the back of my mind there is excitement about what I’m going into.

“It’s something I’m not used to and a bit of a challenge, but I feel like I need that now.

“Knowing I’m on the coaching staff does help, because retiring isn’t really like saying a full goodbye.”