Brian Hetherington (born 14 January 1954) is an Australian former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. He played in the

New South Wales Rugby League The New South Wales Rugby League Ltd (NSWRL) is an Australian rugby league football competition operator in rugby league in New South Wales, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Co ...

(NSWRL) competition. He primarily played in the centres. Hetherington played for the

Newtown Jets The Newtown Jets are an Australian rugby league football club based in Newtown, New South Wales, Newtown, a suburb of Inner West (Sydney), Sydney's inner west. They currently compete in the NSW Cup competition, having left the top grade after t ...

and the

Illawarra Steelers The Illawarra Steelers are an Australian rugby league football club based in the city of Wollongong, New South Wales. The club competed in Australia's top-level rugby league competition from 1982 until 1998. On 13 December 1980, they were the ...

. While attending

Figtree High School Figtree High School is a government-funded co-educational comprehensive secondary day school, located on Gibsons Road in Figtree, a suburb of Wollongong, in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1969, the school ...

, Hetherington played for the Australian Schoolboys team in 1972. Hetherington was selected to represent

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

in game I of the 1984 State of Origin series and game II of the 1986 series.

Playing career

Regal Trophy Final appearances

Brian Hetherington played left- in Halifax's 12–24 defeat by

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

in the

1989–90 Regal Trophy The 1989–90 Regal Trophy was a British rugby league knockout tournament. It was the 19th season that the competition was held, and was the first staging of the competition since it was re-named the Regal Trophy. Wigan Warriors, Wigan won the fin ...

Final during the 1989–90 season at

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

on Saturday 13 January 1990.

Club career

1972 Australian Schoolboy representative had a long career as a in

Dapto Dapto is a suburb of Wollongong in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia, located on the western side of Lake Illawarra and covering . As at the , the suburb had a population of 10,954. History The name Dapto is said to be an Abor ...

, representing

Country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

and

Illawarra The Illawarra is a coastal Regions of New South Wales, region in the southeast of the Australian state of New South Wales. It is situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the South Coast, New South Wales, South Coast region. It encompas ...

against Great Britain in 1977 before joining

in the late 1970s. Hetherington played in the club's 1981 Grand Final loss to

Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and ...

(scoring a try) but joined the newly formed

the following year. In 1984 he became the club's first State of Origin player when he was chosen as a reserve and was named

player of the year in that season. Hetherington played in one further match for

, in 1986, before his retirement at the end of the 1988 season.

References

External links

Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org
1954 births Living people Australian rugby league players City New South Wales rugby league team players Country New South Wales rugby league team players New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players Newtown Jets players Illawarra Steelers players Halifax Panthers players Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Wollongong 20th-century Australian sportsmen {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1950s-stub