FORMER Hull FC winger Kirk Dixon has retired immediately from rugby league just a month before the start of the new Super League season because of a serious neck injury.
The 30-year-old, who joined Castleford Tigers from the Black and Whites in 2007, was told rehabilitation would have taken up the majority of the 2015 season, so has decided to take the agonising decision.
Hull-born Dixon played through three Super League seasons for FC, before moving to the Tigers where he saw his side reach the Challenge Cup Final last year.
"I've had surgery to remove a disk and I've had an artificial disk put in there and it was going to be at least a six months no contact rehab period," Dixon told Castleford's official website.
"That would have taken up most of this season and prior to the surgery I already had an idea that I might retire at the end of the 2015 season.
"Watching the boys walk out against Wakefield (in the opening game of the season) is going to be tough, but it's my health that has to come first now.
"I have a family, a lovely little girl and it would have been selfish of me to carry on from both a family and a club point of view.
"I probably wouldn't have come back from the injury as the same player."
