Craig Greenhill (born ) 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. He represented

Queensland Maroons The Queensland rugby league team represents the Australian state of Queensland in rugby league football. Nicknamed the "Maroons" after the colour of their jersey, they play three times a year against arch-rivals New South Wales rugby league tea ...

in State of Origin, as a .

Playing career

Greenhill made his first grade debut for Cronulla in round 2 1995 against rival

St. George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the ...

Kogarah Oval Jubilee Stadium (also known as Kogarah Oval) is a multi-purpose stadium in Carlton, a suburb in Sydney, Australia. The stadium is mainly used for rugby league and the A-League, and is one of the home grounds of the National Rugby League (NRL) ...

. Greenhill played in Cronulla's semi-final defeat against the

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league team based in Newcastle, New South Wales that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, the Knights joined the top-tier competition in New ...

that year. In the

1996 ARL season The 1996 ARL premiership (also known as the 1996 Optus Cup due to sponsorship from Optus) was the 89th season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the second to be administered by the Australian Rugby League (ARL). Twenty te ...

, Greenhill played in Cronulla's preliminary final loss against

Manly-Warringah The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Manly club debuted in the 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League seaso ...

which finished 0–24 at the

Sydney Football Stadium Sydney Football Stadium may refer to: * Sydney Football Stadium (1988), the original stadium which was demolished in 2019. * Sydney Football Stadium (2022) Sydney Football Stadium, currently known as Allianz Stadium for sponsorship reasons, i ...

. The following year in 1997, Cronulla joined the rival Super League competition during the

Super League war The Super League war was a commercial competition between the Australian Rugby League (ARL) and the Australian Super League to establish pre-eminence in professional rugby league competition in Australia and New Zealand in the mid-1990s. Sup ...

. In the 1997 post season, Greenhill was selected to play for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

from the interchange bench in two matches of the

Super League Test series The Super League Test series was a rugby three- test match series between the Great Britain Lions and Super League's Australian national team held during November 1997 in England. Named the British Gas Test series due to sponsorship from Centrica' ...

against

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

. Greenhill played in Cronulla's grand final defeat against the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...

. Greenhill then departed Cronulla at the end of 1998 and signed with Penrith. In the

2000 NRL season The 2000 NRL season was the 93rd season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the third to be run by the National Rugby League. Fourteen teams competed from February until August for the NRL Premiership, culminating in the 200 ...

, Penrith finished 5th after enjoying one of their best seasons since winning the premiership in 1991. Greenhill played in both finals games for Penrith which ended in defeat. Greenhill's final year in the

NRL The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

as a player came in the

2001 NRL season The 2001 NRL season was the 94th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the fourth run by the National Rugby League. Also called the 2001 Telstra Premiership (due to sponsorship from Telstra Corporation) it was contested ...

where Penrith finished last on the table. His final game was in round 26 2001 where Penrith were defeated 18–60 by Newcastle who would go on to win the premiership that season. After leaving Penrith, Greenhill finished his career in England with

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

teams Hull F.C. and

Castleford Tigers The Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England. They play their home games at Wheldon Road (currently known as the Mend-A-Hose Jungle for sponsorship reasons) and compete in the Super League, t ...

( Heritage No. 805).

Trivia

Craig Greenhill was the first player to be sent off in State of Origin football.
Appeared in ''

Conan the Barbarian Conan the Barbarian (also known as Conan the Cimmerian) is a fictional sword and sorcery hero created by American author Robert E. Howard (1906–1936) and who debuted in 1932 and went on to appear in a series of fantasy stories published in ''We ...

'' as an extra; a young boy in Conan's tribe. Greenhill is attempting to become a golf professional in the senior ranks-he will be eligible in 2022.

References

External links

Queensland representatives at qrl.com.au
1972 births Living people Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league players Australian expatriate rugby league players in England Castleford Tigers players Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks players Hull F.C. players Penrith Panthers players Queensland Rugby League State of Origin players Rugby league players from Queensland Rugby league props Rugby league second-rows Wynnum Manly Seagulls players Place of birth missing (living people) {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1970s-stub