{"id":323456,"date":"2023-08-14T04:35:32","date_gmt":"2023-08-14T04:35:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=323456"},"modified":"2023-08-14T12:59:10","modified_gmt":"2023-08-14T12:59:10","slug":"state-of-origin-snubs-unlucky-for-raiders-legend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=323456","title":{"rendered":"State of Origin snubs 'unlucky' for Raiders legend"},"content":{"rendered":"

Retiring Raiders<\/a> veteran Jarrod Croker<\/a> is unlucky to have never played State of Origin<\/a>, according to Billy Slater<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Confirmation Croker would retire at the end of the season came on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Wide World of Sports' Billy Slater Podcast<\/em>, the Storm great said Croker had been "a wonderful player for a long period of time".<\/p>\n

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"There was one point Croker was going to blow all the points-scoring records out of the water, because he had this incredible run where he just never got injured and he was playing incredible football," he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"(He's) probably a guy in the conversation (being) unlucky not to play Origin."<\/p>\n

But that injury-free run has caught up with the veteran centre. He's bounced from injury to injury in the last three seasons. He's played just 26 games since 2021, and just one last season.<\/p>\n

Even today, Croker is battling a hamstring injury that may mean he's played his final game for Canberra.<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old made his NRL debut in 2009, and will retire as the third-highest Australian first-grade points-scorer behind Cameron Smith and Hazem El Masri.<\/p>\n

He will also retire as the Raiders' leading points (2358) and try-scorer (135).<\/p>\n

Croker said his body made the decision for his mind.<\/p>\n

Stream the NRL premiership 2023 live and free on<\/strong> 9Now<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"NRL<\/p>\n

"I've been weighing the decision up over the past couple of weeks and although my heart and mind want to keep playing for the club I love, the reality is that my body knows it's time for me to retire," he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I'm comfortable with the decision I've made and I now get to spend the remainder of the year working alongside my teammates as we look to push towards the finals."<\/p>\n

Coach Ricky Stuart said Croker was the epitome of what it meant to play for the Raiders.<\/p>\n

"Jarrod Croker will go down as one of the legends of this club. His achievements and his selflessness for the jersey are everything you want in a player and he will retire from the game alongside some of the greats to wear the green jersey," he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"He is the perfect example of what it is to be a Raider."<\/p>\n

The Raiders are sixth with three rounds to go. They will face the struggling Bulldogs on Sunday afternoon, before meeting the Broncos and Sharks to round out the regular season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Retiring Raiders veteran Jarrod Croker is unlucky to have never played State of Origin, according to Billy Slater. Confirmation Croker would retire at the end […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":323458,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323456"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=323456"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323456\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":323460,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323456\/revisions\/323460"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/323458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=323456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=323456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=323456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}