Glen Gallagher will play his last game for the Dubbo Rhinos when the club travels to Trangie to meet the Narromine Gorillas in the final round of the Blowes Menswear Cup.

Gallagher started playing for the club after accompanying a mate to the pub to meet up with the guys.

"Matt Martin was the bloke and he was keen to play rugby," Gallagher said. "But he didn't know anybody so I went to the pub with him and here I am 13 years later with almost 200 games under my belt.

"He hurt himself and never actually made it onto the paddock."

While the club hasn't tasted the success it would have liked on the field, Gallagher said he wouldn't change anything about his 192-game career.

"I have really enjoyed it here, we have a good club and while I will be hanging up the boots I am going to stay involved," he said. "I would like to get into coaching and hopefully I can help the guys out in that way."

A neck injury suffered in 2001 has forced Gallagher, 31, to hang up the boots.

"I hurt my neck pretty badly and it actually forced me to have a year off," he said.

"Even now it gives me some trouble and I was actually going to retire earlier in the year but I decided to keep going until the end."

With a young family and a career to consider, Gallagher said ultimately the decision to retire was a pretty easy one.

"I've got a wife (Sarah) and a little son (Zane) and I will get to spend a bit more time with them," he said.

"My neck is starting to hurt me a bit more in day-to-day life so I knew it was time to go."

While Gallagher says that Saturday's match will definitely be his last, first grade coach Steve Glenday has his doubts.

"I think it will get the better of him," he said. "It might be his last first grade game but I think he will have a run in seconds, he won't be able to help himself."

Such is the respect that Gallagher commands within the club, fans and players formed a guard of honour at Apex Oval last Saturday for him as he ran onto his home ground for the last time.

"That was nice, I wasn't really expecting it," he said.

For 80 minutes the crowd waited patiently, hoping 'Gal' could cross for a try in his last Apex appearance.

His opportunity came just four minutes from full-time when he attempted to pick a bouncing ball up just two metres out from the Orange City tryline.

As the crowd started to roar, the ball popped out of his hands just as he was about to put it down.

"I thought I had it," he said after the game. "It would have been nice to go out like that but I kicked a goal so that is OK."

With the curtain slowly falling on his career, club president Steve Davis paid Gallagher the ultimate tribute.

"He is an icon of the club," Davis said.

"We are only a very young club but he is the best player we have had.

"I remember when he came to us all those years ago, he was just a skinny kid but the skinny kid has done alright for himself."