Bourke Calls It A Day

Rugby league record-breaker Greg Bourke has announced his retirement.

Bourke, 33, made the announcement last week after achieving two long-held dreams this season - winning a Queensland Wizard Cup premiership with Redcliffe and claiming the competition's all-time point-scoring record.

The goal-kicking centre, who passed ex-Dolphin Damian Richters to claim the record in May, scored 1150 points from 141 matches with Cairns, Burleigh, Wynnum and Redcliffe.

Bourke said he joined the Dolphins club from Wynnum last year with the goal of winning an elusive Queensland Cup title.

``When I went to Redcliffe, I said to the coach Hook (Anthony Griffin) that I was chasing a Grand Final win before I decided to give it away,'' Bourke said.

``A couple of little personal goals were to get the points record, which was nice to achieve, as well as getting the most points in the competition for this year.

``It finished well for me at the end of the day and it was a nice way to go out.''

At the Dolphins awards night, he received the Bunny Pearce trophy for the Clubs leading point scorer and also the award for best back.

Bourke started his Queensland Cup scoring spree in 2000, after six years in the national competition.

Joining Balmain from Ballina in 1994, he fell two points short of equalling the club record for points in a single game in just his second national league match, before playing for Sydney Roosters and North Queensland.

``Maybe not being able to play longer in the NRL would have probably been my only regret, but other than that I've enjoyed my time in football,'' Bourke said.

``I achieved a lot of things that I wanted to achieve while I was playing and had a really nice time doing it.''

Meanwhile, after initially hinting at retirement, fellow Dolphins Grand Final hero Gerard Parle has revealed he will reconsider his playing future after his wedding later this month.


This article is courtesy of the Redcliffe and Bayside Herald