Tom Briscoe has already cemented his place among Super League’s greatest-ever wingers, but the Hull FC veteran admits retirement is not yet on his mind as he weighs up whether to extend a remarkable career into a 20th season.

IT IS perhaps no surprise given how much he has achieved in the sport that Tom Briscoe remains remarkably chilled about whether his career will extend for another year or not.

The Hull FC winger is now aged 36 and chalked up his 450th career game against Salford RLFC in February.

If he goes around again next season, he could conceivably pass 500.

Few players achieve such a feat.

But Briscoe remains as fit and competitive as ever. The pace might have eased a little but the player, who scored a record-breaking five tries in a Challenge Cup final for Leeds Rhinos, remains an integral part of the Black and Whites’ set-up.

“I’ve got no decisions made yet on next season,” he insisted.

“I’ve got an option for next year – in the club’s favour – but I just wanted to see how it’s going year by year and, as we get to the end of the year, just make a decision on how I’m feeling at the time.

“I do feel good at the moment. Obviously, I’ve missed a few games at the start of the year, but due to injuries, I’ve got a chance back in the side and I am still enjoying playing.

“I’m still feeling fit and strong and like I’ve got something to offer. So I am feeling good and happy with where I’m at the minute.”

With sports science always evolving, players are playing for longer in the modern era.

Where once, props might be able to get into their mid-30s – mid-40s if you’re Jeff Grayshon – it wasn’t often you’d see wingers going on so strong and for so long.

But as well as Briscoe, his prolific former Rhinos and England team-mate Ryan Hall is still scoring tries and eating up metres at Headingley at the age of 38.

Hall, of course, is not far off Super League’s oldest player.

That record belongs to Steve Menzies, the classy former Kangaroos second-row, who was 39 when he retired in 2013, just two months shy of his 40th birthday.

Menzies’ farewell game came while playing for Catalans Dragons and at Hull – with Briscoe, ironically, in the opposition team in his own last game before making a career-defining switch to Leeds.

Legendary former England forward Gareth Ellis, who also played for Hull that night, was 39 when he retired for a second time in 2020 while, more recently, iconic St Helens hooker James Roby packed in at the age of 37.

Briscoe said: “With the sports science side of things – and you can throw a bit of luck in there with injuries – you can push those sorts of ages.

“You do see more players doing it. I suppose I’m doing it; if I went around again, I’d be 37.

“We’ll see. I suppose it all goes on how I’m feeling physically and probably mentally as well next year.

“Obviously, there’s been a lot of change, but we’ll see what comes with that.”

Briscoe, in his second spell at the club where he started his decorated career in 2008, has needed to make adaptations to enable him to continue performing in Super League.

Discussing what his routine is like on a weekly basis in order to perform, he explained: “Yes, I mean, it does get tougher.

“It gets harder to recover from those games. It takes a little bit longer.

“Usually, you have your recovery day the day after a game and probably are off training for two days after that, whereas you could probably go for a session on the third day, fourth day.

“You just need to warm up a bit longer and just get into more of a routine with looking after yourself recovery-wise and all that side of things.

“But I think all that has moved on in the game and there’s a big emphasis put on all of that now, which is probably leading to the players lasting longer in the game.

“In terms of experience, though, really you just get to know your own body and how you’re feeling at the time. And I guess what you need.”

Briscoe has extra expertise: he studied the subject at university.

He said: “I’m doing my PhD in Sports Science. I’m into the final year now, so I’m hoping at some point this year to graduate from that and pass.

“It opens a few doors. I’d be interested in lecturing and teaching at the university, so I’m exploring roles there. It also leads to staying within the game as well, on the strength and conditioning and performance side.

“I’ve not made any final decisions on that. Obviously, I have some thoughts around what I want to do, but nothing is set.

“I’ll start exploring some options and see what decisions come on the back of that, what’s available.”

Would Briscoe, who won two Grand Finals with Leeds including in the famous Treble year of 2015, ever consider dropping down into the Championship if Hull didn’t take up that option of giving him a 20th season in Super League?

He said: “Obviously, things can change. But I think I’d like to finish in Super League and just be done then, and try and make a move away from playing and make that stick.

“But, I’ve made no decisions. Obviously, we’ll see what happens. I might get to the end of the year, there might not be any Super League options, and I still want to play.

“So, yes, I’m not closing that door. But I’m not really exploring it at the minute either.”

He has spent his entire career in the top flight, scoring 90 tries in 147 games during his first spell with Hull and, after nine years at Headingley, adding another 20 in 34 outings for Leigh Leopards where he also won the Challenge Cup in 2023.

That was the fourth time he’d lifted the Challenge Cup having done so three times with Leeds in 2014, in 2015 [with a Lance Todd Trophy-winning display] and in 2020.

Briscoe returned to Hull from Leigh in April 2024 in a swap deal with Darnell McIntosh and has brought all his experience to their cause.

Admittedly, it’s not always been easy and there has been more upheaval this season with the surprise exit of head coach John Cartwright.

The veteran Australian had done plenty to turn Hull around after arriving with the club in disarray at the end of 2024.

But, despite so many encouraging signs, it was announced early in April that his contract would be finishing a year early at the end of this campaign.

It was inevitable, though, there’d be a parting of the ways much sooner once that news came into the public domain and Cartwright stood down with immediate effect on April 11th – the same day Hull announced ex-Bradford, Catalans and England boss Steve McNamara as their new chief from 2027.

Briscoe said: “I’ve got total respect for Carty. Under tough circumstances he handled himself really well.

“He did well for the club at a time when we really needed that guidance to settle a struggling club – and a club that was in the middle of a bit of a stall pattern, really.

“We didn’t really know where we were going, the squad was getting moved on, there was a lot of change…

“He came in, settled the ship and last year we pushed right up to the play-off spots. He did a great job for us over that time.”

McNamara is currently on the Warrington Wolves coaching staff, aiding Sam Burgess.

But Briscoe knows the 54-year-old well having seen their paths cross earlier in his career.

McNamara was England assistant when Briscoe made his Test debut against Wales in 2009 and replaced Tony Smith as national head coach at the end of that year.

He went on to give Briscoe a dozen of his 15 caps, the last of which came in the 2013 World Cup against Fiji.

He recalled: “Steve comes with a lot of coaching experience at the top level and what he’s done at Catalans the past few years [winning a Challenge Cup, finishing top and reaching two Grand Finals] has been great for that club.

“And being part of the Warrington Wolves set-up now is even more experience for him.

“Being a local Hull lad, he’ll be great for the club and hopefully he can bring us some of that experience and success over the last few years and try instilling some of that into the team now.”

Briscoe reckons he learned plenty from McNamara in the early part of his career and he has high hopes of what he will achieve at MKM Stadium.

He added: “It was Tony Smith who gave me my first England cap.

“But Steve was his number two and he took over from Tony.

“It’s a long time ago now. But being part of the England set-up is completely different to day-to-day training and club environments.

“The beliefs and systems he had, they worked. And I think I took a lot of them into my game and kept them.

“Some of the things he taught me, he did a lot for me, especially coming into that England team as a young boy, really.

“The experiences he gave me and knowledge has served me well.”

And there might yet still be more to come. Whatever he decides to do, Briscoe has cemented his reputation as one of Super League’s greatest-ever wingers.

It would be no surprise if he earned another deal in 2027 to elongate his stellar career even further.

First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 521 (June 2026)