Rauhihi leaves it all behind

It was standing room only in the Wests Tigers dressing room at Telstra Stadium last night, across the corridor Paul Rauhihi quietly contemplated the end of his Australian rugby league career.

The huge prop sat in his cubicle, slowly coming to terms with North Queensland's 16-30 defeat in the National Rugby League (NRL) grand final.

The loss extended a quirky trend of Rauhihi's team not winning an NRL premiership until he has left for paddocks new.

In recent years Newcastle and the Bulldogs both won the competition within two seasons of Rauhihi leaving and despite his best efforts a coveted premiership ring continued to elude the 32-year-old.

Rauhihi produced a typically bristling and belligerent performance - complemented by a dash of flair - but it all came to nothing as the Cowboys came up short in their first grand final appearance.

Even so, he leaves for Super League in Britain with his reputation intact after producing a statistically impressive effort in his swansong.

Rauhihi churned out 136m, made 14 hit ups and made the most individual offloads of the game with one of his five instrumental in keeping the ball alive for Matt Bowen to score the opening try in the 10th minute.

It was the only time the Cowboys led and 70 minutes later, exhausted at the end of a titanic struggle, Rauhihi lay on his back in the in-goal for several minutes, staring skywards before triumphant Kiwis teammate and West Tigers wizard Benji Marshall offered a consoling word.

"It's pretty sad for me, the hardest thing is I'm leaving and I won't play with these guys again," said Rauhihi, a 117kg front rower, who joins the Warrington Wolves in December.

Rauhihi spent three seasons in Townsville after being squeezed out of the Bulldogs following the 2002 salary cap scandal.

He leaves with no regrets ? other than last night's result.

"I'm proud of the boys, we dug deep and although we didn't get the result we wanted we worked hard to get where we are.

"The team has gone really well over the last couple of years. We've made the semis for the first time and this year the grand final.

"It's a credit to the team and the organisation."

And, in a prediction that should give the hurting Cowboys' faithful renewed hope, Rauhihi said he would not be surprised if another chapter in his premiership "near miss" hard luck story was around the corner.

"The boys still have the basis for a good side and they'll be that much hungrier," he said.

"They'll lift again next year."