Enforcer Gareth says emotional goodbye after decade at the top

GARETH HOCK had tears rolling down his face as he read messages about his retirement this week.

For more than a decade, Hock has been renowned as one of the sport’s enforcers, among the most feared forwards in the game at his peak.

But after calling time on a career that also included a twoyear drugs ban – and almost as much time suspended for onfield offences – Hock w a s inundated by texts from a host of his pears. The 35-yearold said: “Wednesday night was quite emotional and I’m not an emotional person. “When I went to speak to the players and staff at Leigh there were quite a few tears, and I got some nice feedback on social media. “Then I was reading through texts at night and I was sat there with tears dripping down my face.

“There were some really nice messages from tough blokes I played with and against. It all hits home because you don’t think people think of you like that.

“I’ve had a lot of positive messages from fans too.

“There was the odd idiot, which has to be expected with me, but I’ve had a lot of good stuff from fans at Wigan, Leigh and other clubs I’ve been at as well.”

Hock decided to hang up his boots due to an inability to recover fully from matches, and an unwillingness to look like an “average Joe” on the field after a career that reached the very top.

A Wigan junior who made almost 200 appearances for the club, he played in the last Great Britain side to win in Australia in 2006. He went on to play for Widnes, Salford and Featherstone, along with two spells at his final club Leigh, whom he helped to promotion in 2017.

Hock is taking his coaching badges and has worked with a junior team in Wigan.

He added: “I just want to be remembered for the good stuff when I played for Wigan, Great Britain and England.

“I know I had some negatives but not many people come back from stuff like the two-year ban.

“But where I am now familywise and happiness-wise is a mile away from where I was a few years ago in that bad place.

“I want to be remembered as a tough player but a different person to what people might think.”