Why Raiders captain made 'hard' call to retire in Catalans, not Canberra

The Catalans Dragons - who have also recruited outgoing Raiders winger Nick Cotric - confirmed Whitehead's signing at the end of last week, with a one-year deal starting in 2025.

The 34-year-old released an emotional statement via the Raiders, sharing his gratitude to the club, its coaches and supporters, but no detail was shared on what led to the move back to Europe - until now.

"I just wasn't ready to retire. I'll retire on my own terms, and won't let [anybody] make me retire," Whitehead said ahead of the Raiders' must-win clash against the Warriors on Friday night.

"I felt like I've still got something to give."

Late last year Whitehead declared he would retire after this NRL season, and that he had "no intention to go anywhere else" after spending nine years in Canberra playing for the Green Machine.

But some time between September and recent months, Whitehead changed his mind, aided by a phone call with his former coach at Bradford Bulls, Steve McNamara.

The current Catalans coach and Whitehead agreed it'd be a perfect full-circle moment for the Raiders veteran to end his rugby league career at his old club in the Super League.

"It's something I had to think about really hard," Whitehead said.

"After speaking with Steve, who gave me my Super League debut for Bradford and with England, to finish off my professional career with him in Catalans, I thought would be pretty good. I didn't just want to hang up the boots."

"I always promised him if I did go back, I would go there," the 27-game England international added.

Whitehead still holds hope he can return to Canberra following his last hurrah in Catalans, following a similar path to Jarrod Croker who became an outside backs and kicking coach with the Raiders since retiring last year.

"I'll probably be back in Canberra if there's something I can do to help the club, but that's over a year away, so I'm just going to try enjoy the rest of my time here at the moment," he said.

Whitehead is excited about his return to Catalans, the club for whom he played 68 games between 2013-15 before arriving in Canberra in 2016.

The Canberra connection will at least continue in France with Cotric joining Whitehead at the Dragons, and the latter is expecting to help the Raiders winger settle into his new home.

"It'll be nice having Nicky over there. He'll be hanging around me because I'm fluent in French," Whitehead said.

"Nick has probably not been the same player since he left for the Bulldogs in 2021, but hopefully he finds a little bit of form in the back end of the season and brings that over to Catalans."

Whitehead isn't packing his bags just yet, though. He still has "unfinished business" with Canberra as he approaches 200 games in green, and remains motivated to deliver the club a premiership.

"I'm motivated every week to win on that pitch - it's something driven into me since I was young. Just because my time's coming up, that doesn't change," the forward said.

"I've still got a few games here to try win a comp with the Raiders first, and that's what I'm aiming to do with these boys here."

Friday: Canberra Raiders v New Zealand Warriors, Canberra Stadium, 8pm.