Each season the excitement of rugby league fans increases as we approach the finals, but each year that excitement is counterpunched by the retirement of some of our favourite players.
Tonight on NRL Daily, hosts John Gibbs and Brad Fittler pay tribute to four tremendous rugby league players in Nathan Hindmarsh, Ben Hornby, Luke Burt and Dean Young as they prepare to play their finals regular-season match at ANZ Stadium on Sunday week.
"I doubt you will ever see the likes of this again," says Gibbs. "I keep my fingers crossed all will make it through this weekend's matches unscathed and be fit to play in the final round because it's an unbelievable set of circumstances.
"Hindmarsh is the star of the four but the other three have long been their clubs' unsung heroes. Luke Burt has scored the most tries in Eels history. Hornby and Young shared an emotional premiership in 2010, something Hindmarsh and Burt unfortunately never got but probably deserved."
Fittler also can't wait for the game to come around so all league fans can pay tribute to these retiring heroes.
"This is going to be a magnificent day for everybody in the game to celebrate," Fittler says. "Few others deserve more accolades for their contribution to the game both on and off the field than these four.
"With over 1000 first grade games between them we are farewelling serious identities of the game.
"I don't think there will be a problem filling the ground," he said. "I can't think of a more fitting way to end the regular season than by celebrating the outstanding careers of four of the game's greats."
Also on tonight's show, resident Toyota NRL Dream Team guru Rob Bruns gives us his tips for Round 25 and we take a look at the Versus head-to-head match-up of Glenn Stewart and Sam Thaiday.
Get all this and more in tonight's episode of NRL Daily, the only NRL show that's on every night of the week.
Stream it on the NRL.com homepage from 7:00pm tonight, watch it on the official NRL mobile site (Telstra customers only. Action Pack required. Click here for more details) or Telstra T-BOX. You can also watch the best NRL Daily videos on your iPhone with the official NRL iPhone App (Official Pass required. Click here for more details)
