Monty: I'll play again

Sunday Sport, August 09

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EXCLUSIVE: FIRST it was Stacey and now it's Monty.

Warriors legend Monty Betham could potentially make an amazing return to the footy field for the club next year after declaring last night that he would seriously consider any approach from Warriors' management to come out of retirement.

Betham retired in 2006 after a brief stint in the English Super League to launch a boxing career. He no longer boxes professionally but is only 31 and says he's in "better shape" than when he played league.

Aussie superstar Wendell Sailor, four years older than Betham, has endorsed the comeback and urged Warriors bosses to sign the former enforcer in a bid to "toughen" up the New Zealand NRL club's forward pack. Betham once voted the most fearsome player in the NRL said his motivation was his "heartbreak" over Warriors' performances this year and he believes he could help stop the rot in 2010.

"It breaks my heart to see how they're going this year," Betham told Sunday News.

"Like Stacey Jones did, if the club I love so much needed help and I believed I could offer them something, I'd definitely put up my hand."

Warriors' management stunned the league world last year when re-signing Stacey Jones, then 32, for the 2009 season after a year out of the game. Critics say the gamble hasn't worked and Betham believes that may stop the Warriors from considering his comeback offer.

But Warriors CEO Wayne Scurrah refused to rule it out.

"After what happened with Stacey Jones, you couldn't ever say the door is closed," said Scurrah.

"I saw Monty here at the Warriors last week and he certainly looks fit.

"It isn't something that we had considered but if he had a genuine interest his best approach would be to go through (coach) Ivan Cleary.

"It would be a football decision."

Sailor arguably the most popular man in the NRL is qualified to talk about comebacks.

After a two-year ban for testing positive for cocaine, the 35-year-old former Wallaby returned to rugby league midway through the 2008 season and hasn't looked back since.

"What I know about Monty Betham is that when you are in the trenches he's exactly the sort of guy you want beside you," Sailor told Sunday News yesterday.

"He's tough. He doesn't talk tough, though, he plays tough ... no disrespect to the Warriors, they've lost their ... aggression and toughness through the pack."

- © Fairfax NZ News