YORK City Knights hooker Kriss Brining has announced his retirement from rugby league.

Brining's decision to hang up his boots comes amid a series of injuries suffered last season and this year, with the hooker picking up a concussion against Workington Town earlier this year.

The hooker also explained that family and work commitments had also led to his retirement at the age of 28.

The decision brings to an end Brining’s near-two-decade-long association with York, having joined the club’s former scholarship set-up aged 12.

Brining went on to become the Knights’ then-youngster-even player when debuting at 17 in 2011. He notched 54 tries in 86 appearances for York in his first spell for the club before earning a move to Betfred Super League side Salford Red Devils.

The hooker returned to James Ford’s side in 2019, featuring prominently in the side which finished third in the Betfred Championship, and he finishes on 126 appearances and 61 tries, the seventh-most and the second-most respectively since the club's reformation in 2002.

Brining said: “I have been thinking about it for a little bit of time now. In the last couple of years I’ve had a fair few injuries.

"I’ve been unlucky with that so that’s one of the reasons but another is that my wife is American and she’s moved halfway around the world for me.

“She’s at home a few nights a week by herself and there’s days where I only see her for 10 or 15 minutes. That was another reason but there’s work as well.

“It’s a perfect storm of circumstances where a few things have made me think it’s the right time to retire.

“With the injuries, I’ve had enough of putting my family through worrying how long I’ll be on the pitch.

“Whenever I’ve gone to a game and you see the amount of fans that want to talk to you, want to wish you the best, it’s pretty special.

"They are great people and the amount of conversations I’ve had with them, as well… unfortunately most of mine have been around injuries and when I will be back, but all the ever cared about was me being fit and healthy, being back on the pitch doing what I have loved to do for so long.

“The York fans have been absolutely immense throughout the whole process and my whole career.”