THIS time it is for definite - the great Lee Jackson will bow out at the end of this season.

This is not a surprise, nor is it news. York City Knights' former Great Britain international said when he signed up for another year that this would be his swansong.

However, he had come close to retiring last year only to decide against it - due to the unfinished business of "helping to get the Knights promoted" - so it was worth putting the question to him again this week to see if he had had any second thoughts.

His reply was a straightforward, "No, this is definitely my last."

At 35 years of age, Jackson still had what it took to lift last season's Evening Press/Collier Plant Hire Player of the Year award, even though he shared hooking duties with the younger, faster Jimmy Elston. Indeed, he underlined his inexorable quality when playing the brilliant Jonny Limmer off the park in the play-off semi-final hammering of Workington.

But at 36, the body is telling him time is now almost up on a glorious career which has spanned Sheffield, Leeds, Hull and Newcastle Knights, plus England and GB caps.

"I'd love to carry on but just can't," he said. "I could train one day a week - the session where you do ball work. I'd be alright with that. But you know yourself when it gets too much for you and that will come at the end of this season."

Jackson started the majority of games last year but interchanged frequently with Elston, a ploy which helped get the best out of his ageing legs. But his class was perhaps best epitomised when a big performance was needed most - that play-off against Worky.

Elston, starting at loose-forward, got injured early on, forcing Jackson to complete a rare full 80 minutes up against red-hot New Zealand 'A' international Limmer, the then NL2 Player of the Month.

Limmer hardly got a sniff and the Knights enjoyed a record 70-10 rout.

Jackson has been used even more sparingly this season, but another roll-back-the-years show against the same opposition tomorrow - with Elston again ruled out due to injury - could play a big part in this year's title race.

As he explained himself, "With the number of games in this division, if you drop three or four matches like we did last year, you haven't got time to catch up."

Defeat for Work-ington tomorrow would be their fourth of term and would leave them with a mountain to climb. Victory, though, would keep them in the mix.

Updated: 11:14 Saturday, June 25, 2005