Starr in all spheres

THERE was a special significance attached to Adam Starr carting up the last ruck of the 2006 Queensland Cup. The towering front-rower went down to the ground, not so much under the weight of Clydesdales defenders but more the backslapping of Dolphin team-mates as they congratulated the 33-year-old warhorse. Starr played his last game of rugby league at Suncorp Stadium, bring a fitting end to a career that took in the ARL, NRL, France and Redcliffe. A Dolphins junior, he returned to the club to finish off his career and succeeded with four stars. "It was the final hit-up and all the guys were saying to pass it to me," Starr said. "They all knew it was on and that the game was over." Starr now has no regrets about bowing out. "I'd still like to have a connection to footy and Redcliffe but I will stay away next season," he said. "I have a three-year-old daughter and another child due in January so it will be all good.'' Along with captain Troy Lindsay, Starr led the way from the front, breaking his usual strong-running game up with a couple of early passes which took the Toowoomba defence by surprise. "I think the turning point was when we held them out for six sets of tackles in a row in the first half. That seemed to frustrate them,'' he said. "It was a good hard game in the first half as both sides were into each other. They just made a few more mistakes than we did." Starr, who has worked at Foster's brewery at Yatala for the past three years, said he would stay away from the game for a while to ensure he had no itchy feet about a premature return. "That game was one of the highlights of my career and not too bad a way to finish up,'' he said. ""No one expected us to get up and those expectation seemed to come true after the first couple of minutes when they scored." Starr is the only top-line Dolphin to announce his retirement with Lindsay indicating he would return in 2007.