Billy Slater says he wouldn’t be surprised if his Melbourne teammate Cooper Cronk retired at the end of the season rather than play for another NRL club.

Slater says Cronk, who announced his plans on Tuesday to move to Sydney for personal reasons, could easily play for another few years but isn’t convinced he will.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if he did retire because Cooper can do things a little bit different at times,” Slater said.