POPULAR Saints packman Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook will call time on his rugby league career at the end of this season – and take on a new job with Merseyside Fire Service.
The 37-year-old Londoner has enjoyed a hugely successful 13 years since heading north, being part of five Grand Final-winning Saints teams, as well as tasting Wembley and World Club Challenge success.
Signed from Harlequins as a prop ahead of the 2011 campaign, McCarthy-Scarsbrook has shown his versatility at the club – memorably switching to centre in the injury-hit 2014 Grand Final win over Wigan.
But the self-confessed club joker he has also brought an infectious enthusiasm that has rippled through all ranks of the club, from the playing group to the terraces.
And in his final years at the club he has continued to contribute, giving the Saints plenty of lift off the bench – and that has been vital with the middle unit depleted in recent weeks.
Coach Paul Wellens said: “Louie has been incredible.
“As our as our local Cockney he has really taken St Helens to his heart and not just the club, but the town, the community.
“He does a lot of work within the town and with his partner on charities and different things like that.
“He’s someone who’s bought into everything that we’re about.
"He’s a wonderful person, with a wonderful family. And he’s certainly going to be missed when he’s no longer in and around the team day-to-day.
He has been at the club in some often tough times as well as the glory years as they transitioned from life away from Knowsley Road.
“He came to the club when we were playing out of Widnes for a season, then obviously moved into a new stadium.
“There were a couple of years there were we weren’t quite getting the results that we wanted, but Louie is the type of character that learns from his experiences and he is someone who has been pivotal to the success that we have had “I think that’s because he’s one of quite a few here, who’ve seen it when it’s been quite tough in and has been a huge driver behind the culture and the standards that have made this team successful.
“What Louie has an unbelievable ability to do is bring some humour, really make the place a light-hearted environment, particularly when things can be very serious a lot of the time.”
Wellens said that in talking about his personality traits and how much of a joker in the pack – we should not overlook how good a player he has been in being a component in that squad for all that time under a succession of coaches.
“What a wonderful player he has been,” he said.
“What a real competitor and such an athletic player. And even to be doing what he’s doing now at the age of 37 is evidence of that.
“He’s always been primarily a prop forward, but for a prop forward to be able to go out and fill in in the centres just shows what an athlete that he is and he’s one of those, in situations like that, where he’s a team player.
“He doesn’t put them in Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook first, he puts the team first and you ask anything more."
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