 Steve Ella finished his career in 1989 with Wakefield Trinity (captain) (Heritage № 1000) in 1988–89.He did return to Parramatta for the 1989 season, but did not play a single game due to injury and announced his retirement in July two weeks shy of his twenty-ninth birthday.He scored 544 career points for Parramatta in 157 games putting him in 3rd place on the club's all-time points list.