Tough Penrith skipper calls it quits
AFTER Penrith captain Peter Wallace announced his immediate retirement yesterday, the club revealed he had played without an anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee for two years.
The gritty hooker, 32, will make an immediate move into the club’s coaching ranks, with a shoulder setback prompting him to quit.
The toughness that marked Wallace’s 240-game NRL career was further underlined yesterday by Penrith general manager Phil Gould.
“It can now be revealed that Peter has played the last two years with no ACL in his knee after his last knee reconstruction actually failed,” Gould said.
“I can also remember him staying on the field for 50 minutes in a game where he tore his ACL. He is a tremendously tough individual and his leadership has been wonderful for our club.”
The revelation only added to the Wallace story, after he started his career in the halves and became a reliable defender in the middle in recent years.
He infamously played on after rupturing a testicle in his second State of Origin match in 2008. He played the last of his four games for the Blues the following year.
Wallace debuted with the Panthers in 2005 and had a sixyear stint at the Broncos before returning to Penrith.
— AAP