Melbourne stalwart Cronk to make move to Sydney club

Storm star Cooper Cronk will seek to join a Sydney club after deciding to leave Melbourne at the end of the NRL season in order to live with his fiancee, Fox Sports TV presenter Tara Rushton.

The 33-year-old, a Queensland and Australian representative who’s played 306 games for the Storm in 14 seasons, is contracted to the club until the end of the 2018 season.

Cronk named coach Craig Bellamy, and team-mates Cameron Smith and Billy Slater as the club’s ‘‘real big three’’ in an emotional address to the press yesterday.

‘‘To Tara [Rushton] and my family, thank you for your patience. Obviously if it was a football decision, I’d be staying here,’’ he said. ‘‘There’s a few things in life that are more important than footy, and that’s pretty much the reason.’’

He added he doesn’t know what is coming next, but made the decision in ‘‘the best interests of the football club’’.

‘‘What I do next year is up in the air ... I’ve been wrestling with the decision of playing on or not playing on,’’ he added.

Storm coach Bellamy, who said he was grateful for the advanced notice, offered his support to the star, saying: ‘‘With Tara in Sydney, it makes it really hard for him. I can see where he is coming from.’’

Cronk won the premiership with the Storm in 2012 and played in two more grand final winning sides that had their titles stripped for salary cap breaches.