Micheal Luck (born 21 April 1981) 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 for 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 ...

and the

New Zealand Warriors The Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as the Aucklan ...

. Micheal Luck's position of choice was or .

Playing career

Queensland

While attending

Kirwan State High School Kirwan State High School is a coeducational state school located in Kirwan, Queensland, Kirwan, Townsville, Queensland, Australia, approximately from the Townsville, Queensland, Townsville central business district, CBD. In 2017, it has 1997 st ...

, Luck played for the Australian Schoolboys team in 1999. He also attended Townsville Grammar School. His junior club was North Thuringowa. In 2001, Luck made his

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 ...

debut for the

. He played 76 first grade games for the North Queensland club, mostly from the bench. Luck played nine games for the club during the 2005 NRL season but was not part of the side which reached the

2005 NRL Grand Final The 2005 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the National Rugby League's 2005 NRL season, 2005 Telstra Premiership season. It was played on the night of Sunday, 2 October at Sydney's Telstra Stadium between the W ...

against the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers is an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West of Sydney and South Western Sydney. The Tigers have competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since being formed at the end of the 1999 N ...

New Zealand

At the end of 2005, Luck moved to the

, seeking more playing time. In his first season for the club, 2006, Luck managed to play every single

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 ...

game for the Warriors and won the clubs Clubman of the Year award. He played over 50 consecutive games for the club and made the most tackles for the club in 2007, again being named Clubman of the Year. In 2007 he was called into the

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

squad as injury cover but was not required. He was named in Queensland's Emerging Origin side for 2009. On 25 April 2009, whilst playing against the

Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm is a rugby league football club based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia that participates in the National Rugby League (NRL). The club plays its home games at AAMI Park, and wears a purple and navy blu ...

at Olympic Park, Luck made an NRL record-breaking 74 tackles in an extra time draw, 14-all, which was beaten a year later in Round 11 2011 by Shaun Fensom with 75 tackles against Canterbury-Bankstown. The previous record was held by Nathan Hindmarsh of the

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 ...

who had 69 tackles in a match in 2007. At the end of 2009, Luck picked up the Warriors biggest award, the club Player of the Year. Luck claimed the trophy ahead of Manu Vatuvei and Sam Rapira. In 2010 Luck became the 17th player to play 100 games for the Warriors. On 14 September 2010, he was selected in the Prime Minister's XIII to play

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

on 26 September. Luck played in the 2011 NRL Grand Final against the

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 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 sea ...

which New Zealand lost 24–10. Luck announced on 21 April 2012 that he would retire at season's end (

2012 NRL season The 2012 NRL season was the 105th season of professional rugby league club competition in Australia, and the first run by the newly formed Australian Rugby League Commission. The main competition, called the 2012 NRL Telstra Premiership due to spon ...

Administration career

In 2012 Luck was appointed as the

' elite pathways manager for 2013 and beyond, working to build local junior talent. In 2013 he completed a master's thesis at

Auckland University of Technology Auckland University of Technology ( AUT; ) is a university in New Zealand, formed on 1 January 2000 when a former technical college (originally established in 1895) was granted university status. AUT is New Zealand's third largest university i ...

on drinking culture in rugby players.

References

External links

Micheal Luck
Official Warriors biography {{DEFAULTSORT:Luck, Micheal 1982 births Living people Australian rugby league administrators Australian rugby league players North Queensland Cowboys players New Zealand Warriors players New Zealand Warriors captains Prime Minister's XIII players Rugby league locks People educated at Kirwan State High School Rugby league players from Queensland Auckland University of Technology alumni People from Gatton, Queensland People educated at Townsville Grammar School 21st-century Australian sportsmen