Wigan have confirmed that Brian Carney will play for Australian side Newcastle next season after agreeing to release him from his contract a year early. Carney had agreed a deal to move to Gold Coast in 2007 and said he wanted to move to Australia before his Wigan contract expired at the end of 2006.
"I've had a tremendous five years at Wigan who I consider as 'my club' but I wanted this new challenge," he said.
"I will be back in the side before the end of the season to thank the fans."
Wigan coach, Ian Millward, said: "Brian has his heart set on Australia and we want to plan long term and have signed Mark Calderwood and Pat Richards.
"Both are 23 years old and we hope they will have long and successful carers with us".
Great Britain international Carney told the Independent last week that he was looking forward to working with former Australia captain Andrew Johns.
"Playing with Andrew Johns for a year is a big incentive for me because I could learn more from him than I could from any coach," said Carney.
Although he is set to play for the Knights for only one year, Newcastle coach Michael Hagan is confident that Carney will make an impact.
"Based on what we've all seen Brian do at international level, he will be a real asset for the club next year," said Hagan.
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