{"id":229748,"date":"2025-10-28T08:36:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T08:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/229748\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T08:36:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T08:36:10","slug":"ex-all-black-turned-wallaby-retires-as-reds-announce-four-departures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/229748\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-All Black turned Wallaby retires as Reds announce four departures"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Former All Black turned Wallaby Alex Hodgman<\/a> has retired from professional rugby union, with the Queensland Reds<\/a> farewelling the dual international and three other players after the 2025 Super Rugby Pacific<\/a> season.<\/p>\n

The Queensland Rugby Union has thanked Sef Fa\u2019agase, Connor Vest<\/a>, Max Craig<\/a> and Hodgman for their commitment to the Reds. In this announcement, the Reds revealed Hodgman and lock-backrower Vest had decided to call time on their lengthy careers.<\/p>\n

Hodgman has returned to Auckland, New Zealand, after spending two seasons in the Sunshine State with the Reds. The front-rower made 17 appearances for the Queensland club, leading to Wallabies honours with a debut against Georgia<\/a> in July 2024.<\/p>\n

Only five men have represented both the All Blacks<\/a> and Wallabies, with Reds prop Aidan Ross<\/a> becoming the latest player to join that exclusive club in Australia\u2019s 19-15 win over Japan<\/a> at Tokyo\u2019s National Stadium on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, setting up my family has always been the most important thing. I wanted to taste something different in Queensland and we definitely did that with a good experience,\u201d Hodgman, Reds player #1396, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, NZ is my home. I had a lot of fun playing footy. You know when it\u2019s time to finish up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSef, Alex, \u2018Vesty\u2019 and Max have all made important contributions to the Reds during my time at the club. They depart with our wishes for success in the future,\u201d Reds coach Les Kiss added.<\/p>\n

At 27 years of age, Vest played his first of 32 matches for the Reds in 2022. The utility forward described the chance to play for Queensland as a \u201cdream\u201d that \u201ctook a very long time to achieve\u201d \u2013 including an appearance against the British & Irish Lions<\/a> in July.<\/p>\n

Craig, 22, is still focused on a career in professional rugby. The hooker overcame a broken ankle to play for the Reds against Japan\u2019s Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights last weekend, concluding an \u201cinteresting ride the past two years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s Fa\u2019agase, who played 92 matches for the Reds across two stints. The prop started in 12 of 13 appearances during this year\u2019s Super Rugby Pacific season, including the Qualifying Final away to eventual champions the Crusaders<\/a> in Christchurch.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo play one game for the Reds was huge. To play 92 is something of a dream because the Reds was the first rep side I ever made,\u201d Fa\u2019agase reflected.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most pleasing thing for me is to see where I was as a kid from Shailer Park to where I am now, on and off the field. This second stage at the Reds (2022-25) has been the favourite part of my career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got real enjoyment and pride seeing young props and hookers come in and grow as much as they have just in one year.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, I\u2019ve helped in that process because I\u2019ve always had a love of the Reds jersey and want to see Queensland rugby keep doing well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former All Black turned Wallaby Alex Hodgman has retired from professional rugby union, with the Queensland Reds farewelling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229749,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-229748","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\/229748","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=229748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}