Brodie Retallick at 33: One of New Zealand’s rugby greats is finally giving his body a break

It’s finally time for Brodie Retallick and his family to have a break at home in Hawke’s Bay after almost a year on the road.

The 2023 Super Rugby Pacific season, followed by an All Blacks campaign that concluded with a Rugby World Cup final in Paris in late October, where he retired from international rugby, was swiftly followed by another overseas adventure.

The former All Black, who turns 33 tomorrow, has just returned from Japan, where he’s recently finished the first season of a three-year deal with Kobelco Kobe Steelers.

It’s a team he knows well, having previously played for them during a two-year sabbatical in 2020 and 2021.

“It was great to be back in Japan. Having been there before, we knew what to expect and what the culture was like,” Retallick said.

“The competition is tough. It’s definitely got better from where it was. The quality of defence in particular amongst the teams has got so much better.”

Kobe, coached by Retallick’s former Chiefs coach Dave Rennie, had some familiar faces in their squad, with Ardie Savea and Bryn Gatland alongside him.

Savea will come back into the reckoning for his country in the upcoming fixtures against England.

Brodie Retallick is happy to leave his 128 appearances for the Chiefs and 109 test caps for the All Blacks in the past. Photo / Photosport

But Retallick’s happy to leave his 128 appearances for the Chiefs and 109 test caps for the All Blacks in the past.

“I think I’m done there,” he said of professional rugby in New Zealand.

“The way the season works [in Japan], we went from December until early May and if you were to go back and play Super Rugby or try and make the All Blacks, it’s a full year of rugby and at this stage of my life I’m happy with what I achieved and happy to leave it there,” he says.

Retallick will return for pre-season training in Japan in early September, which gives him and his family a decent period of time at home, finally.

“We’ve been back in Napier since early 2019 but the longest I’ve actually spent at home in the last four years was due to a Covid lockdown.

“It’s one of the nice things about [playing in] Japan, that there’s no international travel and not heaps of time away from home, or back and forward between Napier and Hamilton like I was doing.

“So it’s good just to be in Japan and be there and then come home.”

He’s already spoken to Sam McNicol at the Magpies and will be keeping himself fit in the off-season as more and more players gather in the coming weeks.

“When you’re here [in Napier] and not around a Super Rugby team, it’s good to go and train with people and throw the ball around, so as the Magpies start to assemble, I’ll jump in there to do their fitness work and ball skills rather than just training and running by myself.”

Retallick is still open to returning to play for the Magpies one day, but it’s very much a question for the future.

“I’d definitely like to. It’ll depend how long I stay in Japan I suppose.

“If the body is good and I have another contract offered [to me] and the family are still happy, I don’t see a reason why I wouldn’t stay in Japan.

“But if that doesn’t happen, giving back to the region and to some younger players is definitely something I’ve considered and thought about.”

Aiden McLaughlin is a freelance sports writer based out of Hastings.