Former NRL player Shaun Fensom won’t rejoin Bellingen/Dorrigo Magpies

Former Canberra Raiders tackle machine Shaun Fensom has made a call on his return to Group 2 league after years of lobbying by his junior club Bellingen/Dorrigo Magpies.

Shaun Fensom believes his time is up at park level rugby league and won’t make a much-awaited return to his boyhood club Bellingen/Dorrigo Magpies.

The decision comes after Magpies coach Garry Stevenson said he and the club had been trying to convince him to return to play on the Mid-North Coast “for a few years”.

Shaun Fensom called time on his NRL career in 2019 and will stop playing park footy this year.

Fensom grew up in Urunga, 30km south of Coffs Harbour and played his junior rugby league in the Group 2 competition.

His NRL career spanned over a decade including 139 games for the Canberra Raiders and a grand-final for the North Queensland Cowboys in which his side lost and he suffered a horrific double leg break.

He attempted a comeback with the Broncos in 2019 before he officially retired.

Shaun Fensom suffered a horror injury during the 2017 NRL Grand Final

He, his wife and young family have since found their place in their adopted homeland of Canberra where he is working in carpentry and playing for the Belconnen United Sharks.

He has confirmed the 2022 season with the Sharks will be his last full rugby league season.

“You’ve got to pick a time,” he said.

“I didn’t get to watch much local rugby when I was playing professionally and the first year the season got canned because of Covid-19 then it got cut short in 2021.”

Even a cameo seems out of reach for Fensom who says he “doesn’t see it happening” with his work and family bunkered down in the ACT.

Garry Stevenson has been trying to recruit Shaun Fensom since he joined as head coach in 2020.

He hasn’t ruled out joining the Bellingen/Dorrigo Magpies for their annual defence force charity match against the Army Thunder in 2023.

Head coach Garry Stevenson said he tried everything to get the Magpies junior back for one last hurrah.

“He’s just got such a young family and his wife has got her parents there (in Canberra),” he said.

“Our talks with him have been going on for years, we exhausted every avenue we possibly could.”

Stevenson tried particularly hard to get him in for the 2022 season when his Magpies squad being lost players with the return of the Nambucca Roosters to the Group 2 competition.

“We had about eight first-graders from Nambucca and they’ve headed back, we have probably lost about 14 of 22 players from last season,” he said.