Houston has returned to the South Coast after a 12-year career playing in both the NRL and the English Super League. Houston spent nine years in Australia with the St George Illawarra Dragons and Newcastle Knights, before three years in England with the Widnes Vikings.

He played 244 first-grade games in those 12 years, including 160 games for the Knights. He also scored 33 tries in his first-grade career.

Houston started playing junior rugby league with the Narooma Devils, but always considered the NRL to be out of reach.

“When I was a kid growing up playing footy, I was pretty interested in the NRL, but I thought it was just a dream that could never happen, and these guys were just in another league,” Houston said. “We had a kid from here named David Mulhall who went through the programs and played first-grade football, and that gave me a vision of what you can achieve.

“We're a little bit isolated down here, but like anything in life, if you're dedicated and you want it bad enough, you can achieve it.”

A regular in the forward pack, Houston was the epitome of a workhorse during his rugby-league career, as he consistently averaged more than 40 tackles a game.

He played on City v Country game in 2011, and was 18^th man for NSW in game three of the 2009 State of Origin series.

Despite this success, Houston admits he struggles to remember individual matches he played in.

“I've got odd games that I sort of remember, but my memory for games, even recent ones, was never great,” he said. “I always knew what to do on the field, and what was coming up for the team, but I'm not one who can remembers scorelines.

“I remember my 150th for Newcastle against Melbourne at Hunter Stadium, and Kurt Gidley kicked the game-winning goal from the sideline after the siren. There are certain ones like that that are special.”

Houston has experienced the highs of playing first-grade football, but he still has some regrets from his sparkling career.

“I would have loved to play origin, it's the number one competition in the game,” he said. “At the time in 2009 I might have been ready for it, but I was just grateful to have the opportunity of being in the squad.

“I came in for game three while Craig Bellamy was coach, and it was such great experience being in camp with the guys.

“One regret I do have is I had the opportunity to play in the Prime Minister’s 17 one year, but I had a bursa in my elbow that was pretty swollen.

“I got a phone call saying that I'd been selected, but I'd played every game that year for Newcastle and I was wrecked, so I said 'I don't think I'm right to go'.

“Looking back now, I should have just battled on and done it, because it would have been my highest rep honour. You've got to live with those things, and it's not like I made the decision for the wrong reasons.”

Houston has now officially retired from first-grade rugby league after his three-year stint in the United Kingdom.

“It was hard for me to get physically ready for games the last year I played, I was just finding my body wasn't recovering the way it used to,” he said. “I was always conscious of playing a year too long, but I don't think I did that at all.

“I'm leaving the game at a good stage, it's given me everything I have in life, but I've also still got my health which is most important.”

And while Houston is completely comfortable with his decision, he still acknowledged it was a hard one to make.

“Rugby league is all I've known,” he said. “I did a teaching degree when I was younger, and that's where I want to test myself next, but for more than 15 years I've done rugby league nearly every day.

“To give that away, you lose a part of your identity, and that's hard to deal with sometimes.

“You see a lot of sportsmen struggle with mental health issues and different things like that, because they're just not ready such a big change.”

Chris will now have more time to spend with his wife Amy, and his two sons Harvey, 3, and Kai, 6 months.

“Harvey was born just before we moved to England, and Kai was born over there,” he said. “They’re both doing really well, but Kai is about to get teeth which will be interesting.

“Harvey is pretty fixated at the moment with the movie Cars. We've moved around a lot, we've done a lot of things, and the one thing he's sort of kept is Cars.

“When kids are that young they don't really have friendships with other kids, but his friend is Lightning McQueen.”

The Houston family have been back in Australia for a couple of months now, but will be moving north at the end of January so Chris can pursue the next phase of his professional career.

“We moved back to Australia in November last year, and we wanted to come back and see family,” Houston said. “We’ve been here for a few months, but we’re moving up to Bulli at the end of the of the month because I’ve been given an opportunity to work there.

“I didn’t make enough money to put my feet up and sit on the beach just yet, so it’s just a short stay unfortunately, but I can definitely see us coming back in the future.”

Chris’ new job is with the Mental Health Movement in Wollongong, a business set up by former NRL player Dan Hunt that aims to “educate and develop a more resilient individual”.

The company runs seminars at workplaces, schools, and sporting club to help break down the stigma around mental health.

“He (Dan Hunt) has given me an opportunity to work in a field I'm passionate about,” Houston said. “I'm focusing on schools to develop coping strategies with kids, so when they come to the bigger challenges in life they know how to deal with it.

“If I can play NRL, and I'm OK speaking about my emotions and feelings, then so should young kids.

“We've been told for so long to harden up, get over it, and get on with it, and it's having bad consequences.

“There's way too many suicides in Australia, and people are still not getting their issues treated properly.”

Before Houston starts his job in Wollongong, he’ll focus on footy for a little bit longer as helps the Narooma Devils in their preseason.

“I had a chat with Will Monteith and Todd Ayers when I first came back, and they asked me about potentially playing,” he said. “It’s something I thought about for a while, but I decided that if I was to play, and deny a young guy the opportunity to play first grade, that wouldn’t sit well with me.

“These guys are going to be putting the work in all preseason, so for me to come back and play just a couple of games wouldn’t be fair on them.

“Having said that, I’m going to help in the preseason with a bit of coaching, and sharing things I’ve learnt over the years.

“I’m going to get back whenever I can, whether that’s coming to a local game down here, or meeting the guys in Batemans Bay, I’ll try and help the club as much as I can.”