From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Laurie Daley OA (born 20 October 1969 in Junee, New South Wales) is an
Australian rugby league
football commentator and former player of Indigenous Australian[1] descent. He
represented Australia on several occasions and has since been named
as one of the nation's finest players of the 20th century. Daley
played primarily as a centre and then five-eighth for the Canberra
Raiders during their most successful period in the 1990s.
Playing
career
Spotted playing first grade for the Junee Diesels in 1986 at the
age of sixteen, and after being signed by the Raiders, he developed
as a centre and was playing first grade for Canberra by 1987. Daley was playing
representative rugby league before his 19th birthday in 1988. He
was the second highest try-scorer the following year with sixteen
tries. He tasted premiership success with the raiders the following
year and in the ensuing celebrations dropped the Winfield Cup from a
moving car.[2] Daley
disappointed in his first State of Origin games for
New
South Wales that year, but in 1990 he made his Australian début
against France. That year, Daley also won the Raiders' player of
the year award as well as selection for the Kangaroo Tour of
Great Britain and France, playing centre for the last four tests on
tour (two against Great Britain and two against France). He missed
Australia's opening loss to Great Britain at Wembley Stadium due to a broken
hand suffered in a previous tour match.
During 1991, Daley was shifted from centre to five-eighth.
Affected severely by a knee injury in 1992,[1] Daley
captained Australia in the absence of Mal Meninga in the first Test against New
Zealand in 1993, kicking the match-saving field goal. 1994 was
again plagued by injury, but he returned in time to win the title
with the Raiders, contributing a vital try. He was selected, along
with six of his Canberra team-mates, to the 1994 Kangaroo Tour of Great Britain and
France.
Controversy raged in 1995 when Ricky Stuart was preferred for the
Canberra captaincy, even though Daley had captained both New South
Wales and Australia ahead of Stuart. Furthermore, the outbreak of
Super League and Daley's
subsequent support for the rival organisation saw him barred from
representative games in 1995. Nonetheless, Daley was awarded Rugby League
Week's Player of the Year award in 1995 and the Raiders' player
of the year award in 1995, 1996 and 1997.
In 1996, Super League players were once again allowed to compete
in representative fixtures sanctioned by the Australian Rugby League,
allowing Daley to compete in State of Origin. Even
though Daley was the incumbent New South Wales captain prior to
1995, Brad Fittler
was preferred to the captaincy. The following year, the Super
League competition was launched, and Daley was appointed to captain
the Super League representative teams of both New South Wales and
Australia, winning their respective competitions. In the three-test
series against Great Britain at the end of the season, The
Australian side wore black armbands in memory of Daley's
grandmother who'd died two days before. He scored a hat-trick that
match in The Kangaroos' emphatic victory.[2]
In 1998, Super League and the Australian Rugby League agreed to
combine to launch the National Rugby League
competition. Daley took over the Canberra captaincy on a full-time
basis after Stuart signed with Canterbury in 1999 and was once
again named the Raiders' player of the year. Although Daley
continued to make representative appearances, injuries began to
limit his appearances; and he was forced into retirement in 2000.
In September of that year, his book, Laurie: Always a
Winner was published.
Post-playing
Laurie Daley statue at Canberra Stadium
Daley is now assistant coach of the New South Wales Blues and
coach of the Country Origin team.
In September, 2007, Daley left his commentary position with Fox
Sports and signed a contract with the Nine Network to co-present much of their
rugby league coverage, from appearing on the weekly rugby league
topic show The Footy Show, to commentating
on Nine's weekend league coverage.
In 2009 Daley left the nine network and went back to foxtel.
Laurie Daley working for the Nine Network
Accolades
In February 2008, Daley was named in the list of Australia's 100 Greatest Players (1908-2007)
which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the code's
centenary year in Australia. [3]
In August, 2008, Daley was named at five-eight in the
Indigenous Team of the Century.[4]
References
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