Injury has ended the thirteen year career of Peter Wallace with the announcement of his retirement today.
Penrith Panthers General Manager Phil Gould said as part of a statement that Wallace had battled through injury over the last few years.
“It’s an incredibly selfless act from Peter. He always had great faith in the young players coming through our system here at Panthers and has played a huge part in their development as both footballers and people.”, Gould told the Penrith Panthers website.
A Lower Mountains and St Mary’s local Junior, Wallace made his debut against Canberra on July 3, 2005 at Canberra Stadium in a losing 22-14 side.
There would be a gap year between his next appearance for the Panthers in 2007, where he appeared in 19 games for the club.ย His golden point field goal against the Brisbane Broncos at Suncorp Stadium would stamp his name in the National Rugby League.
Brisbane Broncos seized on his skills and offered him a contract, joining Joel Clinton at Red Hill in 2008.ย In six seasons at the club he would play 139 matches and represent New South Wales four times between 2008 and 2009.
In a reported fall-out with then Broncos coach Anthony Griffin it was announced that Wallace would return home to Penrith in 2014 following a Broncos loss to the Panthers at Panthers Stadium.
Wallace was an instrumental senior player at the Panthers in his second stint which lasted four and a half seasons, joined by former Broncos coach Griffin in 2016.ย Given the club captaincy in 2018, he made nine appearances for the club before his retirement.ย His last game was against Newcastle on May 11, going out a 29-18 winner.
240 club games and 34 tries later, Wallace leaves the game at 32 years of age.
He leaves the Panthers club in good shape with the impressive form of rookies Sione Katoa and Wayde Egan.
It also allows the club to be in a good position to retain Nathan Cleary as rival clubs circle the recently New South Wales debutant.
https://nothingbutleague.com/2015/10/21/coach-anthony-griffin-joins-panthers/