\n Having returned to NRL side Parramatta Eels following a brief loan spell with The Wire at the end of 2025, Matterson has been unable to play at all this season as he battled with ongoing concussion symptoms.\n<\/p>\n
\n And in an Instagram post announcing his decision to step away from the game, he admitted said symptoms had become \u201charder to live with\u201d and left him with no choice but the call time on his career.\n<\/p>\n
\n The last of his eight Warrington appearances during a 28-20 loss to Hull KR in Round 27 last year turned out to be the final game of his career after he had earlier played just shy of 200 NRL games for Paramatta, Sydney Roosters and Wests Tigers.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cToday, I\u2019m announcing my medical retirement from rugby league,\u201d he wrote on his Instagram page.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cFor many years, I\u2019ve battled the effects of concussion and the symptoms that have come with it.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI\u2019ve tried to push through, manage it and keep doing what I love. But over time, the symptoms have become harder to live with and unfortunately, they\u2019ve continued to get worse.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cEventually, you have to make the hardest decision of your life and walk away from the thing you love, in order to protect the life you have ahead of you.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cRugby league was my childhood dream. I was incredibly lucky and privileged to live it for more than a decade.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI gave everything I had to this game, and it gave me memories, friendships, lessons and experiences I will carry forever.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cTo my family, teammates, coaches, friends and everyone who has supported me, thank you.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cAnd to the fans, thank you for believing in me, supporting me and riding every high and low along the way. I\u2019ll never be able to put into words what that has meant.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThis decision hasn\u2019t come easy and it hurts.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI\u2019m incredibly excited for what comes next. I have a new purpose, new dreams and a new chapter to write.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI have every intention of using all that professional sport has taught me to help other people chase their dreams and become the best version of themselves.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThank you from the bottom of my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Having returned to NRL side Parramatta Eels following a brief loan spell with The Wire at the end…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":739950,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-739949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739949","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=739949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/739950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=739949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=739949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=739949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}