Former Melbourne NRL star Ryan Papenhuyzen isn’t sure if he will ever play professional sport again and has declared that his future is a “blank canvas”.<\/p>\n
The 27-year-old says he has no regrets about walking away from the final year of his Storm contract and hasn’t been impacted by the delay of rebel rugby competition R360 because he never intended to play sport \u2014 apart from golf \u2014 next year.<\/p>\n
“I’ve always been pretty set on next year as a gap year for sport in general, so the only sport I’ll be playing is golf,” Papenhuyzen said after the Australian Open pro-am at Royal Melbourne on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
“The plan was to always have a year off and try a few different things and see how that goes, so that hasn’t changed for me.<\/p>\n
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Papenhuyzen played in the last two grand finals for the Storm. (AAP: Mark Evans)<\/p>\n
“Life’s only short, so if I’m my 80-year-old self looking back now, what’s something I regret not doing? It’s probably taking a chance and doing something else.<\/p>\n
“I’ve been in rugby league for nearly 10 years now and sport for 10 years, so why not pivot and try something else? And there’s always an option to come back, which is great.<\/p>\n
“I feel like I’m at a point now where I’ve really progressed as a human and athletically as well, but there’s more things I want to achieve in life and why not have a punt at that now?”<\/p>\n
Asked if he could picture himself strapping on the footy boots again, he said no.<\/p>\n
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Papenhuyzen’s future remains up in the air ahead of his “gap year” in 2026. (Getty Images: Michael Hancock)<\/p>\n
“Maybe playing touch footy at a local park or something like that, but honestly, right now, no,” said Papenhuyzen, who played in Melbourne’s grand final defeats in the last two seasons.<\/p>\n
“I’m sure I’d weigh all options up if I got to that feeling again, but right now I’m just looking at it as a blank canvas and I get to write that next chapter.”<\/p>\n