Aubusson retires: From debut dropping to Roosters royalty

Mitch Aubusson's 14 record-breaking years in red, white and blue will wind up in classic Mitch Aubusson fashion, just the way they started.

On Monday one of the club's favourite sons confirmed 2020 will be his last season for the Roosters.

But not before he delays a corrective operation on ligament damage in his wrist, cops a pre-game painkiller and bids to return for a tilt at a third straight title, one last premiership for the road.

Anthony Minichiello's Roosters record of 302 appearances will fall Aubusson's way when he gets back on the paddock.

He currently sits equal with Luke Ricketson on 301. Aubusson has long had an association with Roosters royalty, even when he didn't know it.

"I was picked up by Artie Beetson sitting on a hill at a trial game at a school carnival," Aubusson recalled of his first Roosters scholarship as a teenager.

"He came over and introduced himself and I wasn't 100 per cent sure who he was. But Mum and Dad were really happy to meet him.

"From there the talks kept going on … and in my first year out of school I moved to the Roosters to play some footy."

Aubusson set up shop in one of the club-owned apartments on Bondi Beach, living with 2013 premiership-winning teammate Frank-Paul Nu’uausala among others and staying out of trouble.

With the search still on for Brad Fittler's long-term No.6 successor, Chris Anderson threw a 19-year-old Aubusson into the halves to start the 2007 season, complete with a crash course in kicking three days prior.

"I remember a rainy Monday night game of footy," Aubusson said of his NRL debut, an 18-6 loss to the Rabbitohs.

"I watched the whole weekend of footy and my brother [James] debuted on the Friday night for Melbourne so it was a pretty busy week for the family being in two places over the weekend.

"I remember it being a tough, dour low-scoring game. And I remember getting dropped the next week, that's what I remember most about it."

Aubusson debuted in the same typically understated, resourceful fashion that has rung throughout one of the Roosters most enduring careers.

Only fullback and prop remain unfilled on a résumé that didn't include an NRL win for Aubusson's first two months of first grade.

Now it boasts three premierships and a chance for one more, along with the likely title of most-capped Rooster of them all.

Aubusson's focus of course is solely on one victory lap.

"I haven't thought too much about it," he said of Minichiello's record.

"People that know me know I'm not too fussed with records.

"It's about another premiership for me. It's about grinding hard with these guys in this building and going after something special as a group.

"That's why I play this game, that's why I'm at this club and to do something special like that is what I'm after at the end of the day.

"[The Roosters] is my home. It's something I've invested a lot of time in and it's something that's very close to my heart. You love something so much you can go through stages where you hate it too.

"That just shows the other end of that. I feel like I've had a big part in helping build [the Roosters' success] and I want to see that continue on in the future."