{"id":115972,"date":"2025-09-05T08:21:43","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T08:21:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/115972\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T08:21:43","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T08:21:43","slug":"ex-leigh-leopards-duo-announce-retirement-after-stellar-17-year-careers-with-special-gesture-made","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/115972\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Leigh Leopards duo announce retirement after stellar 17-year careers with special gesture made"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Former Leigh Leopards pair, Martyn Ridyard and Gregg McNally, have both announced their retirement from the game after both enjoying successful 17-year careers.<\/p>\n

The two currently play for League 1 side, Rochdale Hornets, and have played alongside each other for most of their careers.<\/p>\n

After impressing in the amateur ranks at Leigh Miners Rangers, Ridyard joined the then Leigh Centurions in 2009, and made an immediate impact, scoring four tries in his first five matches.<\/p>\n

McNally burst onto the scene, scoring a hat-trick in front of the Sky Sports cameras in 2008, aged 17, as Whitehaven beat Salford in the National League One. He joined Ridyard at the Leopards in 2012, moving from Huddersfield Giants.<\/p>\n

The pair would both stay with the Leopards until 2017, with Ridyard accumulating over 200 appearances for the club and was named the Championship<\/a> Player of the Year in 2014. McNally had an impressive five-year stint, scoring 94 tries in 147 Leigh appearances.<\/p>\n

The both went their separate ways in 2018, with Ridyard moving to Featherstone in 2018, and McNally also moving to West Yorkshire, but to Bradford Bulls.<\/p>\n

A return to Leigh came in 2019, as they reunited for a second stint at the Leigh Sports Village. Ridyard became the third highest points scorer in the Leopards history, with over 2,000 points to his name.<\/p>\n

Joining forces again at Oldham in 2023, the two moved to current club Rochdale ahead of the 2024 season, and have now decided to end their careers at the same time, pulling the curtain on an incredible partnership and two illustrious rugby league careers.<\/p>\n

Former Leigh Leopards men admit retirement was \u201cnot an easy decision\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking on the decision to retire<\/a>, Ridyard admitted it has been a tough choice, but one he knew he had to make.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cIt\u2019s not been an easy decision and I\u2019ve had plenty of chats with my wife over the past 12 months. A couple of serious injuries have probably taken their toll, as it does with age, but I\u2019m content with everything. To play one professional game, I\u2019m really happy to achieve that, so to get as many as I did is overwhelming.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to thank everyone from top to bottom. I\u2019ve met some absolute gems at every club I\u2019ve been involved with \u2013 people who are the heart and soul of rugby league. It has been a tough decision, but good things do come to an end and I think it\u2019s time for somebody younger to step into my shoes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no easy way to say it, and I\u2019ve thought about it a million times in my head, but after 17 rollercoaster years, I wouldn\u2019t change anything,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

McNally also commented on his retirement<\/a>, saying how much he has loved his time as a player.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI\u2019ve really enjoyed the highs and the lows \u2013 they\u2019ve shaped who I am as a person.\u00a0 I want to say thanks to all the clubs and all the fans who have taken me in and treated me so well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the right time, age-wise, I think. We\u2019ll have one last dance this weekend and enjoy the occasion. No doubt it\u2019ll be very emotional, but I can\u2019t wait to see you at the Crown Oil Arena for one final time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s game will be the final of the two\u2019s career. It will also mark McNally\u2019s 350th career appearance. Rochdale have announced a brilliant gesture of goodwill to fans of Leigh Leopards, the club the pair represented over 400 times combined. They will be able to watch the final game of the 39-year-old\u2019s career for a discounted price of \u00a310, in what will be a special moment for Ridyard, McNally and their families.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Leigh Leopards pair, Martyn Ridyard and Gregg McNally, have both announced their retirement from the game after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115973,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-115972","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}