By Dave Woods BBC Sport

KRIS RADLINSKI FACTFILE Born: 9 April 1976 Previous clubs: Wigan St Judes, Wigan St Patricks Wigan career stats: 310 appearances - 183 tries, 1 goal Major honours: Championship winner 1996; Regal Trophy 1996; Grand Final 1998; Challenge Cup 2002 Great Britain caps: 20 England caps: 10 Personal honours: Wigan player of the year 1998, 2000, 2001; Harry Sunderland Trophy 1995; Lance Todd Trophy 2002

Kris Radlinski's sad retirement at the age of 29 immediately brings to mind the two matches that will always be synonymous with his name.

Firstly, the 2002 Challenge Cup final at Murrayfield, when he climbed out of a hospital bed to have his badly infected foot lanced before playing the game of his life to inspire Wigan to victory over St Helens.

And secondly, the 1995 Premiership final at Old Trafford, when the then barely known teenager scored a brilliant hat-trick in the 69-12 demolition of Leeds.

To say that early performance was Radlinski's announcement of his arrival would be to misrepresent a player who is the personification of rugby league at its best.

Radlinski has never been into big announcements - he's always been a player who simply got on with it.

That day at Old Trafford, surrounded by eager journalists pushing him for self-analysis of his man-of-the-match feats, he blinked with astonishment that so many were making so much of him simply doing his job to the best of his ability.

Injury forces Radlinski to retire

Everyone will have a favourite Radlinski moment but, for me, it's the general image which will endure.

Whether picking himself up from his latest courageous cover tackle or ghosting into an attack at just the right moment, he always did everything with body language that exuded modesty and determination in equal portions.

There may have been full-backs with an extra yard of pace or fancier footwork, but he had plenty of the right qualities to rank him as a true great: a dash of flair, a sprinkle of timing and bucketloads of bravery, integrity, professionalism and honesty.

Radlinski's pace marked him out as a constant danger for defences

His retirement cuts another connecting wire between the great Wigan side of the pre-summer era and the modern day club that is, to a certain extent, still rebuilding.

His presence on the pitch will be massively missed.

Thankfully for the sport, he is not one of a kind.

Rugby league is full of the kind of characters you hope your teenage daughter will one day marry.

And Radlinski, a more than likeable lad whose modesty extends beyond the playing field, was one of the best.

But it is still a sad day when you read that you will never see Kris Radlinski play again. At 29, natural justice should have allowed for a few more years.

He deserves a role within the game and will no doubt emerge as an astute and eager student in the coaching class.

But he's already done enough to be remembered as a great of the game.