... and if Tim Horan can become a commentator/panelist, I don't see any reason why Quade can't later in life.
People complain about Marto; I do too. But if I had to choose between Marto and Horan, I'd take Marto every time. Horan was our greatest ever 12, best player on the planet in 1999, but he is an opinionated nightmare of a commentator. Doesn't understand that if you are asking the questions in an interview then its the interviewee that people are interested in listening to. Doesn't know how to ask an open question. Doesn't understand how to stay on point in a panel discussion. Comes over like he lives in his own little world. Doesn't seem to know much about what is happening in rugby now (a lot of posters here seem to know far more than he does).
People in QLD get very upset when we Southerners suggest they all have an intellectual disability. But when we trot out Marto and Horan as good examples tongue in cheek, our case is instantly proven.
So please, don't lets have Quade as a panellist when he retires. My theory is that when players are instinctive in their play - like Horan, Campese and Quade they make very poor commentators. The good ones, like Sharpe and Kafer, didn't have that instinctive gene and so had to learn to think and reflect before they got good at something. I'd bet Ben Mowen would make a good one, he had to be able to think it out and become successful through training and analysis. That's what you are looking for in a commentator.