After an incredible sixteen years playing in the NRL, veteran Ruben Wiki is finally hanging up his boots.

(Well, at least in the NRL - it's still unsure whether he'll play in the Super League).

Wiki carved out a long career playing for the Canberra Raiders, where he started out as a young center playing along side the likes of Mal Meninga and Laurie Daley. He was part of the 1994 Premiership-winning Raiders team, and went on to play 225 games for the "Green Machine", scoring 60 trys.

As he got a little older, he moved into the forwards. He played in the front and second rows (predominantly at prop towards the back end of his career), and became one of the fiercest players in the NRL, known for his hard hits and physical presence.

In 2005 Wiki finally became a Warrior after twelve years in Canberra, and over the last four years he has become a home town favourite at Mt. Smart Stadium. Wiki played 87 games for the Warriors, and surpassed the 300 game milestone this year against the Tigers - becoming the first New Zealander to do so.

His career tally - 312 NRL games and 72 trys.

Wiki also holds the record for playing the most Test matches of any player, with a total of 55.

Wiki will be best remembered for his no-nonsense kind of play. He put everything he had into every moment he was on the field, and at the age of 35 (the oldest in the NRL) he was still competing with the younger guys, who looked up to him as a player they could aspire to be like. Fair enough, too - if you're going to style your game on anyone, it might as well be one of the best.

Wiki also credits his lengthy playing days to Kava, which he drinks before every game, and has even introduced it to some of the players at the Warriors club. Hopefully that will give them`career's as long as Wiki's...

Life in the NRL won't be the same without Ruben Wiki - especially at the Warriors, where he's looked up to like the legend that he is.

We wish him all the best for his future, and thank him for the eighteen wonderful years of hard hitting rugby league he's given us.

Ruben - you're an absolute legend.