{"id":428278,"date":"2026-01-21T18:44:29","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T18:44:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/428278\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T18:44:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T18:44:29","slug":"ryan-papenhuyzen-says-he-is-retired-after-melbourne-storm-exit-r360-links","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/428278\/","title":{"rendered":"Ryan Papenhuyzen says he is ‘retired’ after Melbourne Storm exit, R360 links"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ryan Papenhuyzen<\/a> has “set the record straight” on his departure from the Melbourne Storm<\/a>, revealing a late-season concussion prompted his decision to quit the sport.<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old dropped a bombshell following Melbourne’s grand final loss, walking away from the club with a year to go on his contract and leaving the NRL<\/a> completely.<\/p>\n

At the time, Papenhuyzen had been heavily linked to R360 on a lucrative deal<\/a>, but the rebel rugby union competition pushed its start date back by two years.<\/p>\n

FOLLOW LIVE: Australian Open day four coverage<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Hunt’s revealing Origin verdict as title defence drives Broncos<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Crichton set for bombshell switch to chase 2027 RWC<\/a><\/p>\n

Speculation then went into overdrive that Papenhuyzen would return to rugby league with another club or move overseas to pursue the 15-man game.<\/p>\n

\"Ryan<\/p>\n

Ryan Papenhuyzen.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

The fullback had publicly stated he was taking a year off<\/a>, but has now gone into greater detail on why he left the Storm and the sport at the end of last season.<\/p>\n

“I will set the record straight,” Papenhuyzen said on the 167 Podcast with former teammates Cameron Munster and Jahrome Hughes.<\/p>\n

“I feel like you guys know this, but it’s probably more the external [people] that don’t. I don’t even know where to start, but I’ll start from the Brisbane game in the last round.<\/p>\n

“So that game, pretty much I had that head knock in the last minutes and obviously went off the field and was in the sheds, pretty emotional … I was rattled. I don’t think I’ve ever really cried in front of you boys, but I was in the sheds trying to hide it.<\/p>\n

“In that moment it was kind of like, what am I doing? At what cost do you play footy for? I just had one of those moments, it was fleeting and over the weekend, I processed it.<\/p>\n

“That was the catalyst for the conversations that went in place for the next few weeks. The plan was always, after that, whatever happens I’m having a year off. I had a mindset coach the last few months and talked about what that looks like and how to approach it.<\/p>\n

“After that Broncos game, I didn’t play the next week but within, I knew I was having a year off next year. One thing led to the next, we got to the grand final and then we lost.<\/p>\n

“There was always a bit of me that thought if we lose, I’d want to come back and play again and if we won, it would be good to just go off and do it.<\/p>\n

“It didn’t change my feeling of it at all. I’ve done all I can, I’ve tried hard and put in everything I can … if I keep playing this game, at what cost?<\/p>\n

“We had discussions, walking away from something quite lucrative and not going to have that security, but at what cost? My health is something I really prioritise. I had to look within and if it’s not serving its purpose anymore … that was my big realisation.”<\/p>\n

Papenhuyzen endured a horror run with injuries throughout his career, which still had some incredible highs including a Clive Churchill Medal win in the 2020 grand final.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Ryan Papenhuyzen after the 2020 grand final.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

He spent more than a year on the sidelines after shattering his kneecap in 2022<\/a>, with major question marks over whether he would return to the field, while also battling concussions and other injuries during his six-year first grade career with Melbourne.<\/p>\n

While it was ultimately a tough decision given the money involved, Papenhuyzen believes he is “retired” from rugby league and is turning his attention to helping others.<\/p>\n

“I’m getting paid, it’s hard to leave that environment,” he said.<\/p>\n

“But what else in life do I want to achieve? That was helping people. In what capacity? I love psychology and I guess I love new experiences so what can I channel that into?<\/p>\n

“I know I said a year [not playing] but at this stage, I don’t actually feel like I would play at all. I think I’m enjoying what I’m doing now and I’m going to give that my all.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Ryan Papenhuyzen on the 167 Podcast.\u00a0Supplied<\/p>\n

“I know R360 [was there] and that was definitely in the talks and definitely something I was keen on, but I think that incident in Brisbane in the last round was just sort of like, everything happens for a reason, the universe puts you in situations.<\/p>\n

“It was nearly like ‘no, you need to make this decision, be strong with it, stick with it’ … so now I think I’m retired.”<\/p>\n

Papenhuyzen scored 77 tries in 113 games for the Storm during his NRL career, winning one premiership and featuring in two other grand final losses in 2024 and 2025. <\/p>\n

His spot at the Storm will likely be filled by young gun Sua Fa’alogo this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ryan Papenhuyzen has “set the record straight” on his departure from the Melbourne Storm, revealing a late-season concussion…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428279,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-428278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}