League: Tuiaki forced to retire

Taniela Tuiaki has been unable to play since snapping the joint against Parramatta Eels. Photo / Getty Images

A chronic ankle injury has finally forced Kiwis and West Tigers wing Taniela Tuiaki to reluctantly walk away from professional rugby league.

The 28-year-old confirmed his retirement today, an announcement anticipated since he suffered a serious break near the end of his stunning National Rugby League season in 2009.

Tuiaki has been unable to play since snapping the joint against Parramatta and after pinning his hopes on three surgical procedures plus enduring countless hours of rehabilitation the four-test Kiwi now accepts it is game over.

"It's a real disappointment," Tuiaki told The Sun-Herald newspaper.

"Last week I was training and running but there was no improvement in the ankle, it wasn't getting better.

"My (right) leg hasn't got the range back and the calf is really weak. I don't know what else I could have done but it wasn't recovering. I can't keep running, even after all these surgeries it's not getting better."

The injury cut down Tuiaki, a cult figure at the Wests Tigers, in his prime. He had scored 21 tries in 22 games, was named the Dally M winger of the year while on crutches and voted by his peers as the hardest man to stop in the NRL.

The 110kg finisher, who made the first of his 78 first-grade appearances against the New Zealand Warriors in 2006, cut a frustrated figure as he was confined to gym work for the entire 2010 season and, although the club offered him a new deal in the hope he would return to first grade, reality hit home last week.

"I've now got to think about what I'm going to do away from footy," he said.

Aware Tuiaki's injury was potentially career-ending, his club organised employment for him with one of its sponsors, a freight haulage and courier firm.

- NZPA