Kennedy to quit rep football

Manly Sea Eagles and Test back rower Ben Kennedy will quit representative football after accepting the Club captaincy for 2006.

The 31-year-old veteran of 13 Tests and 12 State of Origin appearances was offered the captaincy by coach Des Hasler last Monday. He will take over from Michael Monaghan.

One of the best forwards in last year's Tri-Nations tournament, Kennedy joined Manly last year after five seasons with the Newcastle Knights (2000-2004). His first grade debut was with the Canberra Raiders in 1996 where he stayed until 1999.

Kennedy was touted as a possible captain when he joined the Sea Eagles last year. But he said he wasn't interested, stating the prospect of changing clubs to be enough responsibility for one year.

In what may be his final season in first grade football, Kennedy has indicated he will focus on Manly's 2006 premiership ambitions.

"Manly has given me this honour and I should show some respect and show that I'm committed to getting Manly going in the right direction," Kennedy said.

"In regards to rep footy, I'm pretty much leaning towards last year being my last season. I haven't officially rung [ARL general manager] Geoff Carr or written a letter, but with this job and the change of coaches with the rep teams I'm thinking that it's probably time to sit back and let someone else have a go."

Pic: Action Photos. actionphoto.com.au