Michael De Vere (born 11 December 1976) 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 1990s and 2000s. He represented

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 ...

in four

test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

s and

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 five State of Origin matches. A

goal A goal or objective is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan, and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to ...

-kicking outside back who could play or and also a skilful

-kicker who ended his career having kicked at 76.62%, De Vere played club football for 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 ...

in the NRL, with whom he won the

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

and

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

premierships. He later played with English club the

Huddersfield Giants The Huddersfield Giants are an English professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. Huddersfield play their home games at the John Smiths Stadium and compete in Super League, the top tier of British rugby league sy ...

in the

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 ...

, reaching the 2006 Challenge Cup final. In

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, he instigated a comeback with the Brisbane Broncos, which only lasted one game before he retired.

Playing career

A product of Campbelltown Warriors junior rugby league club, De Vere spent a year playing with the Appin Dogs in the Group 6 Junior League, before being graded with the St. George Dragons in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

, although he never played first grade for the Dragons.

Brisbane

De Vere won the 1997 Brisbane Broncos season's rookie of the year award and also played in their

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

win over the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks. In

De Vere, a last-minute inclusion to the side due to a finger injury to former Kangaroo Tour winger Michael Hancock, scored the opening try in Brisbane's 38–12 1998 NRL grand final win against the

Canterbury Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilitated by ...

. The 2000 Brisbane Broncos season's top point-scorer, De Vere made it three premierships in four seasons with the club when he landed three goals in their 2000 NRL grand final win over the

Sydney Roosters Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...

. Having won the 2000 NRL Premiership, the Broncos traveled to England to play against 2000's Super League V Champions, St Helens R.F.C. for the 2001 World Club Challenge, with De Vere playing at centre and kicking three goals in Brisbane's loss. Later that season he joined the ranks of Brisbane players ( Terry Matterson,

Glenn Lazarus Glenn Patrick Lazarus (born 11 December 1965) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer, and a former Australian Senator. An Australian international and New South Wales State of Origin representative , Lazarus won premi ...

, Luke Priddis and Chris Johns) to have represented New South Wales against his Broncos teammates in a State of Origin match. He also set the Broncos record for most goals in a match when he kicked 9/9 in a 50–6 win over the

North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest city in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). Sinc ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

. He was again top point-scorer for the Broncos in

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

and

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

. After the 2003 NRL season, De Vere made his test début in the centres for Australia in an end of season test against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, following which he went on the 2003 Kangaroo tour, playing in the final two tests of

The Ashes The Ashes is a Test cricket series played biennially between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, '' The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, ...

series against

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. In

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

he was dropped from the New South Wales team after the Blues' narrow 9–8 win in the first match of the series. During the 2004 season, Michael De Vere played his last test for Australia when he was selected on the wing for the Kangaroos 37–10 Anzac Test win over New Zealand in Newcastle. He contributed 12 points with a try and four goals, the only goals he kicked in test football. De Vere then left the Brisbane outfit at the end of the season after again being the club's top-point scorer, to take up a contract with English club

, becoming the club's first Australian international player since Pat Devery in the 1950s. At the time he was the Broncos highest ever point scorer with 1,062 points.

State of Origin

In the

State of Origin series, an incident occurred in game one when De Vere suffered a head wound after a clash with Queensland's Tonie Carroll. The NSW team physician John Orchard used a staple gun to close the wound.

Huddersfield

De Vere joined the

in 2005. He played for Huddersfield in the 2006 Challenge Cup Final at centre and kicked two goals but the Giants lost 12–42 against St. Helens. On 20 November 2006, he announced that he would retire from professional football and return to Brisbane. The following season at the Broncos' 20-year anniversary celebration, the club announced a list of the 20 best players to play for them to date which included De Vere. He was set to join the Carina Leagues club as a development/coaching officer in 2007. On 23 January 2009 it was announced that De Vere would return to the Brisbane Broncos for the 2009 season, more than two years after retiring. The

National Rugby League 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 ...

had to approved De Vere's comeback due to concerns over salary cap concessions, given he also worked as a development officer. It was to be De Vere's final playing year in first grade rugby league, and his 10th season with the Brisbane club. De Vere's NRL comeback was short-lived as he only played one game in 2009; he announced his retirement on 7 April 2009.foxsports.com.au
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References

External links

Rleague.com player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:De Vere, Michael 1976 births Australian rugby league players Australian expatriate rugby league players in England Australia national rugby league team players Brisbane Broncos players Huddersfield Giants players New South Wales City Origin rugby league team players New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players Rugby league wingers Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Sydney Living people