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Recruit Pocock, urges retiring Red
By Jim Tucker
May 07, 2008
<DIV id=storybody>RETIRING ironman David Croft has urged Queensland to do whatever it takes to lure Western Force colt David Pocock into the No.7 jersey he will wear for the final time on May 17.
The flanker's decision to retire because he no longer feels he can commit to his own obsessive standards will take effect after a Suncorp Stadium finale against old foe NSW. He is walking away from $200,000-plus, the final year of his contract in 2009, to avoid feeling rugby had become "a job".
The shaven-headed forward has copped more than 700 stitches to his face as testimony to the heart he has poured into a phenomenal streak of 92 consecutive Super rugby games.
On Saturday night, he will attack No.93 against the top-placed Crusaders at Suncorp without back-row ally John Roe, whose season is over with further surgery booked for his troublesome left shoulder.
"I suppose the body is pretty sore but you can always push the body to carry on," an emotional Croft, 29, said.
"If I'd gone on another year, training would have been verging on a chore, rugby would have been a job and I would have been doing myself and teammates a disservice with my heart not fully into it. For me, it's either all or nothing.
"It has absolutely torn at me to see blokes, over the years, just turn up and pick up a cheque. I never wanted to be one of those players."
Croft said the two openside flankers in the current Reds squad, Tasi Luafutu and AJ Gilbert, had great potential to improve but his top solution for the Reds lay elsewhere.
"If we could get Dave Pocock it would be fantastic. He's a fantastic talent and I've urged for years to get him on board at the Reds," Croft said.
The Reds have a contract offer on the table with the Zimbabwean-born Pocock, who was a schoolmate of Quade Cooper in Brisbane where his parents still live.
Croft said he could not leave the Reds at rock bottom last year when he captained the side that lost 92-3 to the Bulls.
"It's not my nature to leave a sinking ship," Croft said.
"I wanted to get to the point of light at the end of the tunnel, which we're definitely at now with (coach) Phil Mooney there to take a young team of a new era to the next level."
Roe is booked for surgery on May 15 to loosen ligaments and examine the joint after stoutly playing through the pain of a bad shoulder all season.
Full-back Chris Latham's exuberant training session at Ballymore on Tuesday guaranteed he will face the Crusaders.
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Was the wait worth it - Ya betta baby 
have more money than you do. 
Originally Posted by jono
Brother Gallagher I hear you 
