Tyson Frizell

Tyson Lomano David Frizell is an Australian rugby league player who currently plays for the St. George Illawarra Dragons in the National Rugby League. He has Welsh and Tongan heritage, and was called up to the Wales team for the 2011 Four Nations. A back-rower, Frizell previously played for the Cronulla Sharks.

Playing career

Frizell is of Welsh and Tongan descent and played his junior rugby league with the Corrimal Cougars, while also playing his junior rugby union with the Woonona Shamrocks club. Frizell attended the Illawarra Sports High School in Wollongong on the NSW South Coast. In 2009 he was selected as a centre for the Australian Rugby Union Schoolboys Tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Shortly after returning from the tour, Frizell announced that he would be joining the Cronulla Sharks NYC squad for the 2010 season. In the 2010/11 season Frizell played 42 NYC games with the Sharks. Whilst in his second NYC year, Frizell made his NRL debut for the Sharks on 29 July 2011 against the Brisbane Broncos at Suncorp Stadium, following up with a second NRL appearance in 2011 against the Sydney Roosters. At the conclusion of the 2011 season, Frizell joined the Welsh Rugby League team and played 2 tests in the Gillette Four Nations Series.

Paul Gallen

Paul Gallen (born 14 August 1981) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer and heavyweight boxer who currently captains the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks of the National Rugby League as well as the New South Wales State of Origin team. He has also been the vice captain of the Australian national team and has played his whole NRL career to date with the Sharks. In 2014 he accepted a plea bargain along with other past and present NRL players, admitting to the use of performance enhancing drugs.

Background

Born in Sydney, New South Wales, Gallen played his junior football for the Wentworthville Magpies and was in the Parramatta Eels junior system playing S. G. Ball Cup before being overlooked by the Eels. Gallen later signed with the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks.

Playing career

2001

Paul Gallen made his NRL Premiership rugby league debut for the Cronulla Sharks against the Parramatta Eels in round 15 at Toyota Park on 3 June. Cronulla lost the match 36 points to 6. He made one more appearance that season in the final round, where the Sharks were victorious over the Brisbane Broncos 24–16.

State of Origin

State of origin is the state or territory from which something originates. The name is also used in Australia for both small and larger sports events which generally involve domestic representative teams. The term, when used in isolation, usually refers to rugby league football, and occasionally Australian rules football matches, in which players are selected for the Australian states or territories where they either first played (hence the name 'state of origin') or played the majority of their senior football. The concept mirrors international representative rules in other sports. The annual State of Origin series is now one of Australia's most popular sporting events.

It was devised to address the drift of most talented Australian rules players to the Victorian Football League (VFL) and the effect that this had on interstate matches. A similar situation existed in regard to the New South Wales Rugby League which attracted the best players from the Queensland Rugby League because of its far stronger and financially attractive competition. The latter was due to the increased funds of the New South Wales clubs, due to poker machines, which Queensland laws prohibited.

Sam Thaiday

Samuel Thaiday (/θaɪdeɪ/; born 12 June 1985 in Sydney, New South Wales), is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays for the Brisbane Broncos in the National Rugby League, captaining them from 2012-13. An Australian international and Queensland State of Origin representative second-rower, he can also play prop and lock and has spent all of his career at the Broncos, with whom he won the 2006 premiership. In 2008, Australia's centenary of rugby league and Thaiday's sixth year at the top level, he was one of only three current players to be named in the Indigenous Australian rugby league team of the century.

Background

Thaiday was born in Sydney, New South Wales and moved to Townsville, Queensland at the age of four years. He is of Torres Strait Islander descent. He played junior rugby league for the Brothers club in Townsville as well as attending Kirwan State High School. His cousin Milton Thaiday also became an NRL footballer.

Playing career

2000s

Thaiday was signed in 2002 by the Brisbane Broncos after coach Wayne Bennett watched him brawl with Sonny Bill Williams and Tom Learoyd-Lahrs in an under-17s interstate game. On 11 July 2003, aged 18, he made his National Rugby League debut for the Broncos against the Bulldogs in round 18 of the 2003 NRL season.

Andrew Fifita

Andrew Fifita (born 28 June 1989), is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who currently plays for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks of the National Rugby League. A New South Wales State of Origin and Australian international representative as forward, he previously played for the Wests Tigers. Fifita is known for his tackle-breaks, strong fend and his step. Andrew Fifita's twin brother, David Fifita also plays for Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks as a Prop.

Early years

Born in Blacktown, New South Wales Fifita began playing rugby league with twin brother David in the Penrith junior rugby league system before moving to Griffith, New South Wales. He attended Patrician Brothers' College Blacktown and Wyndham College. He played junior football for the Doonside Roos, St Patricks Blacktown and the Griffith Waratahs. His twin brother David also played lower-grade for the Tigers and is currently with Andrew's club, the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks. Fifita is not related to John Fifita, a former St George Dragons player.