Keith Gleeson announces retirement

Eoin

Full story here. A shame to see him go, he deserved more than his 27 caps.

A couple of back room staff leaving as well - link

toomevara

eoin_s wrote: »

A couple of back room staff leaving as well -

If McGurn is, in fact, going it's a big loss...highly rated and respected in both union and league, and whatever woes the Irish team have suffered over the past few months at least fitness and conditioning have never been an issue...

Sorry to see Gleeson going, massively under-rated and imo, under utilised, player.

themont85

Great player, EOS chose to ignore him after his injury which was to the detriment of Ireland. Sad to see him go, the stand out player in a much criticised pack for the past few years for leinster.

Eoin

toomevara wrote: »

If McGurn is, in fact, going it's a big loss...highly rated and respected in both union and league, and whatever woes the Irish team have suffered over the past few months at least fitness and conditioning have never been an issue...

Sorry to see Gleeson going, massively under-rated and imo, under utilised, player.

Yep, McGurn is going - he's been approached by the NZ RFU to interview for a position there.

Do you not think that the players' (over?) conditioning during the WC was discussed quite a lot though?

davyjose

Shame. It really boils my blood to think of how this guy was disregarded by O'Sullivan. That's it, any sympathy I may have had for EOS has disintegrated. A$$hole!

bleg

guess he won't be becoming captain

death1234567

The treatment of Gleeson by EOS was a disgrace. Good player and should have had WWAAAYYY more caps.

toomevara

eoin_s wrote: »

Do you not think that the players' (over?) conditioning during the WC was discussed quite a lot though?

Hmmm, Indeed that's a good point...don't know who's door you lay that at though...

dc69

Gleeson should have played all the Ireland matches and been made captain,Once again eddie forces a player out,

Sangre

maybe a new coach could convice him back.

davyjose

Sangre wrote: »

maybe a new coach could convice him back.

He's retiring from ALL rugby, so I think that'd be unlikely.

GreenHell

He could be our Martin Williams. Its a shame we didn't see more of him, I think a horses for courses selection policy between himself and Wallace would have worked great for Ireland.

jph100

yeah shame to see him go. he is going back to live in australia.

from a leinster point of view it means jennings will now get a chance to play number 7 regularly

Sangre

davyjose wrote: »

He's retiring from ALL rugby, so I think that'd be unlikely.

didn't pick up on that. shame, probably the most under rated player on the irish international scene.

hopefully regular game time will help jennings push for wallace's spot. give ourselves 2 different styles of 7s.

phog

Sorry to see him go but you'd question why he announced it now, there is talk of a new National Coach why didn't he wait to see when and who or does he believe that EOS has four more years.

This should be Jennings chance to nail down his position on the Leinster team and give him the chance to get on the pecking order for the Irish Squad, I hope that as a result of the loss of Gleeson that Niall Ronan doesn't head back up the N7.

Podge_irl

phog wrote: »

Sorry to see him go but you'd question why he announced it now, there is talk of a new National Coach why didn't he wait to see when and who or does he believe that EOS has four more years.

He has quit all rugby and is moving back to Australia, so I imagine his contract was just up and he felt now was the time. I doubt it had anything to do with Eddie.

Shame to see him go, one of Leinster's best performers this year. At least Jennings will get a consistent run at 7 now.

Eoin

Podge_irl wrote: »

He has quit all rugby and is moving back to Australia, so I imagine his contract was just up and he felt now was the time. I doubt it had anything to do with Eddie.

That's how I would see it also. He should still have seen a lot more caps though.

remus808

Sangre wrote: »

hopefully regular game time will help jennings push for wallace's spot. give ourselves 2 different styles of 7s.

I.e. one who is a 7 and one who is a 6..

Het-Field

Another player wasted by OSullivan. After his injury he was finished. Alan Quinlan, Bob Casey, Leo Cullen, Shane Jennings, Trevor Brennan all went the same way. I daresay the likes of Paddy Wallace may also go that way too

barnesd

Eddies folly was Leinsters gain. Absolute Leinster legend and I'm actually quite upset to see him go. I've never spoke to him or met him or anything but you always knew he was a player who gave 100%. Best of luck to him in whatever he does next.

Time for Jennings to step up to the plate now, he's obviously good enough and the Ireland 7 shirt is now up for grabs. Wallace has not been great this season and hopefully a new coach will start from scratch.

zAbbo

Absolute monster of a player, who has been totally consistent for the last 2 seasons.

Hard to believe he only got 29 caps, should have easily notched up 50+ in his time.

What chance did he have, when EOS took an unfit Wallace to the RWC, with a plethora of blindsides...

NotWormBoy

You never know, he might change his mind, ala Williams, though as pointed out, it doesn't look likely...

zAbbo

He's not just retiring from International rugby, it's all rugby, so I doubt a change of mind will happen.

It's a shame that players like Hickie and Gleeson are retiring, as they could easily play for another few seasons, but you've got to respect their decisions.

On the plus side, we should now see Jennings nail down the 7 jersey for Leinster/Ireland/Lions

JWAD

barnesd wrote: »

Time for Jennings to step up to the plate now, he's obviously good enough and the Ireland 7 shirt is now up for grabs. Wallace has not been great this season and hopefully a new coach will start from scratch.

Neither Jennings or Wallace are the best breakaways in this country. And I dont mean Gleeson either.

Sangre

Cheika has said the door is always open for Gleeson.

quagmire69

All the best to keith, I met him once and he came across as a real genuine guy. Easily one of the best forwards in irish rugby over the past 5/6 years.

Think he got on eddie's bad side as he always spoke his mind which eddie didnt really like.

Anyway, I wish him well in the future.

phog

Sangre wrote: »

Cheika has said the door is always open for Gleeson.

If Cheika wants Gleeson to reconsider he needs to do more than say "the door is always open". Do you think that's how Gatland got Martyn Williams to come out of retirement?

Sangre

Are you privy to what exactly Cheika or Gatland said in private?

Anyway, Gleeson isn't going to come out of retirement just for a domestic career.

phog

Sangre wrote: »

Are you privy to what exactly Cheika or Gatland said in private?

No, how would I but you certainly seemed to quote what Cheika said and do you honestly believe a player that has announced their retirement would return after an offer of "the door is always open"

Sangre wrote: »

Anyway, Gleeson isn't going to come out of retirement just for a domestic career.

I thought the same but got the impression from your post that you thought there might be a chance of his return to Leinster after the offer of an open door.

Crash

I think the video of the cheika interview put it quite clearly - cheika does not want the man to retire, obv couldn't talk him out of it - so is putting out the best offer that he can, which is "if you ever want to play here again, just tell me. its up to you."

I think all fair dues to cheika he seemed quite upset about it.