Canberra Raiders captain Terry Campese signs with Super League's Hull Kingston Rovers Alfred Blue Jersey
Departing Raiders captain Terry Campese says the club will remain in his blood and he has already talked to officials about the possibility of returning in an off field role with once his playing career is over.The 30 year old also revealed he had only once seriously considered leaving the Raiders in his 11 NRL seasons, knocking back a $1 million offer in 2009 to cross codes to Japanese rugby union.The drawn out contractual stand off between the Raiders and their skipper finally ended on Friday, with Campese released to sign a one year deal with the Hull Kingston Rovers in the UK Super League.The Raiders and Campese's management reached a settlement and will continue to pay a portion of his contract in their 2015 salary cap.But Campese, who has been training alone in Queanbeyan and hunting for a rugby league lifeline, denied he was walking away from the club bitter.In somewhat of a last supper, Campese had lunch with Raiders patron John McIntyre and chief executive Don Furner at Braddon restaurant Italian Sons on Thursday, which included talk of his life after football."I've been at the club for 12 years, I've represented NSW and Australia, but still the proudest moment is leading the squad out and being captain of the club you love," Campese said."It's somewhere I'd love to come back to one day, the door's always open as the guys said [at lunch on Thursday]. Hopefully you might see me there again one day, coaching or in some form at the club."I've done a few courses and have a few businesses to fall back on, but rugby league's been in my blood since a young fella, so that's where I'd love to end up after playing, whenever that might be."CAREER IN BALANCECampese's career at the Raiders had been in limbo well before he was dropped from the NRL team for the final five games of the season.The Raiders granted him leave for the first month of the pre season, another indication he would not be returning for 2015.Having seen several English deals fall through with Hull FC, Salford and Hull Kingston Rovers before, the unexpected departure of former Raiders forward Neville Costigan from Hull KR opened up a space for Campese."To be honest, personally it hasn't been too bad, it's more about the family," Campese said. "The media speculation about the whole thing has definitely made it tough."I've got big shoulders and have handled a fair bit over the time I've played footy you learn quickly, you have to. I was in and out of first grade when I started, up and down form. I guess the last five years, when you're in the spotlight more, it's harder on the family when there's bad things. They're the ones I worry about. But we got through it and we're going to Hull."It's a bit of closure. Now we can start to build for where we're heading."RUGBY OPTIONThere has been a lot of criticism of the record six year deal the Raiders offered Campese in mid 2009, when he was playing State of Origin and at the peak of his career.Since 2010, his career has been littered with injuries, including three that were season ending.But Campese has revealed 2009 was the only time he considered leaving the Raiders."The only serious time was when I got offered a contract in Japanese rugby when it first started, it was massive," said Campese, nephew of Australian Wallabies great David Campese."But there's no regrets. I stayed at the club I loved growing up and wanted to be part of forever, that's a proud part of my career, knocking back something like that to stay loyal.His manager, Jim Banaghan, spoke with some NRL rivals this year, but Super League was always the preferred option."It's all good, I was his captain for a year, it's all sweet," Campese said. "We haven't spoken since the season finished up. That's just the way things are he's at training and got 30 blokes or more to look after."Campese did not want to discuss personal details of why he skipped the Raiders presentation night, saying "there's a lot more that goes on in life than football, it was family things that happened that day that no one needs to know about". Justin Tuggle Womens Jersey