CHAMPION Storm halfback Cooper Cronk isn’t retiring and instead will become the hottest player on the open market after a bombshell announcement that he’s leaving Melbourne for Sydney next year.

The two-time Dally M Medal winner will end 14 years of service for Melbourne at the end of this season, bound for Sydney to live with fiancee and Fox Sports presenter Tara Rushton while almost certainly playing for a Sydney-based NRL club.

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Cronk has the potential to become the highest-paid player in the NRL next year, with the Test playmaker capable of earning close to $1.5 million a season.

The announcement will force almost every Sydney club to reassess their recruitment and retention plans for 2018, aware that a player of Cronk’s credentials could single-handedly transform their side.

“This will be my last season in Melbourne,” Cronk said on Tuesday.

“If it was a football decision, I’d be staying here for a long period of time.

“But for me to finish up here at Melbourne Storm this year is a personal (decision).

“Tara, my fiancee, is based in Sydney, and there are a few things in life that are more important than football, like family, getting married and a future.

“I’ve been pretty selfish in my approach to my football career and I think it’s time I put someone else and something else first.

‘”Football is great but I need a balance outside of that and I don’t have that here in Melbourne.

“I get on a plane every other spare minute in Melbourne (to see Rushton) and it’s getting harder to get back on that plane to come back so in the best interest of this football club it’s the right decision at the right time.”

Cronk has played all of his long and successful career alongside superstar teammates Cameron Smith and Billy Slater, under master coach Craig Bellamy, and he admitted it would be a wrench to break that partnership.

He began his career playing alongside Smith and Slater at Brisbane club Norths, and has gone on to celebrate NRL premiership, Queensland State of Origin and Test success with them.

“To Craig, Cameron and Billy — you talk about the big three, in my eyes they’re probably the real big three and I’m a distant relative,” Cronk said.

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“In terms of the contribution that they’ve made to this football club, they’re the three most influential people in this club’s history.

“As long as they’re here, whether I’m here or not, they’ll be guaranteed success because of one, they’re very good at what they do and two, their work ethic and desire for success.”

In the delicate process of determining the future of their own halves, Wests Tigers, Parramatta and Canterbury would undoubtedly be interested in Cronk’s bold move north.

The 33-year-old’s decision will start a countdown to the end of the most dominant fullback, halfback, hooker combination in the history of the game.

The decision will also have huge ramifications for the Storm’s big three, including Cronk, Billy Slater and Cameron Smith.

Cronk’s guiding hand to lead the Storm to victory over Penrith last weekend meant he moved to third highest for wins in first grade with 214 from 306 games.

Smith passed Darren Lockyer in the same game to notch the most wins of all time by a player with 238.