The Wellington Cowboys will farewell one of their toughest players on the field after Paul Black formalised his retirement from competition in a message to the club on social media.
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In a screenshot posted by the Wellington Cowboys, Black sent the club a picture of his playing boots hoisted up at the grandstand, and confirmed the news.
"My boots are officially hung up, 2000 - 2017," Black wrote to the club.
Black went on to express his thanks before wishing the club all the best in the season ahead.
"Firstly, I'd like to thank my number one supporter my wife Loretta and so many other supporters in the town, all the boys I've played with over the years, the coaches that have coached me and the committees over the years."
"All the best for the upcoming season, cheers."
Several friends and former teammates responded with their own well wishes for Black, with Steve Matheson calling 'Blackie' an 'awesome footy player and an even better bloke'.
Speaking after the announcement, Black looked back on his playing time with the club and his decision to announce the final cal in such a way.
"I probably started playing first grade with Wellington when I came home from Sydney in 2000 and I retired after that Grand Final in 2017 against the CYMS," Mr Black said.
"I didn't play last year, so going and hanging the boots up was more of a symbolic thing - I'm moving to Bathurst, so I was cleaning out the shed and I had a bit of spur of the moment decision to hang them up from the grandstand."
Mr Black said he and his family were moving to Bathurst because his children will be pursuing education opportunities there, and said that the response has been overwhelming.
"It was moving, I had plenty of loyal supporters that used to - I mean, my wife's probably the number one supporter and the young fella's been playing first grade now, probably the highlight was getting to play in the reserve grade grand final with him a few years ago," Mr Black said.
"Not a lot of people get to say they played alongside their son."
"I guess, when you're a dad at eighteen you probably get that opportunity."
Speaking about the Cowboys recent influx of talent, Black joked that he wished the surge of high-level players had come when he was still active.
"Yeah, I wish they'd had that kind of money back when I was playing, we'd probably have won a few more comps," Mr Black said.
"I played in three or four first grade grand finals and two or so reserve grade grand finals and we never managed to win one, so that was something that was always there pushing us and driving us."
Between supporting his children's many sporting aspirations and successes and working to provide for his family, it had simply become too much to keep up with the demands of training.
"I've played football since I was five until I was thirty seven. Physically and mentally, you just end up drained."
With a long streak of games in the rear-view mirror and having played with some of the Country NSW's best talent over the year, Mr Black is confident that Wellington's playing future is in good hands.
"Michael Peachey was one of the best players I've ever played with, Trent Runciman and Justin Toomey-White from the younger fellows, he's amazing."
"We've got three boys playing in the NRL now, Kotoni, Ferguson and Peachey, so it is a really good nursery for producing good genius."
