BRADFORD rugby league icon Elliott Whitehead will play his last game for England this weekend, and will soon be retiring altogether.

The second-row had been set to call it a day after last year’s Rugby League World Cup, but after a heartbreaking semi-final defeat to Samoa, he decided to carry on for another 12 months.

But, as reported by The Sun, he has confirmed Saturday’s game against Tonga at Headingley will be his 27th and final cap in an England shirt.

Last month, his Canberra Raiders head coach Ricky Stuart confirmed that Whitehead would be retiring from club rugby at the end of the 2024 campaign too.

Whitehead, 34, played junior rugby for West Bowling, before being signed by Bulls as a teenager in 2005.

He made his first-team debut at Odsal in 2009, playing 109 times for the club and scoring 39 tries, before leaving in mid-2013 to join Catalans Dragons.

After two-and-a-half seasons in Perpignan, he made the move to Australia and Canberra ahead of the 2016 season.

He is closing in on 200 games for the Raiders, and famously helped the club reach their first NRL Grand Final in 25 years in 2019, where they lost 14-8 to Sydney Roosters.

Internationally, Whitehead played at two World Cups for England, helping them reach the 2017 final, where they were beaten by Australia.

The Bradfordian also played four games for Great Britain in 2019.