Samuel Arthur Thaiday (; born 12 June 1985) is an Australian former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played for the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club Ltd., commonly referred to as the Broncos, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos play in Australia's elite com ...

in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

, serving as their captain from 2012 until 2013. An Australian international and

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

State of Origin representative , he can also play and as well as and spent all of his career at the Broncos, with whom he won the 2006 premiership. In 2008, Australia's centenary of rugby league and Thaiday's sixth year at the top level, he was one of only three current players to be named in the Indigenous Australian rugby league team of the century. On 6 July 2018, Thaiday announced his intention to retire from the NRL at the end of the 2018 season.

Background

Thaiday was born in

Sydney, New South Wales Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and moved to

Townsville, Queensland Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 30 ...

at the age of four years. He is of

Torres Strait Islander Torres Strait Islanders () are the Indigenous Melanesian people of the Torres Strait Islands, which are part of the state of Queensland, Australia. Ethnically distinct from the Aboriginal people of the rest of Australia, they are often grou ...

descent. He played junior

for the Brothers club in Townsville as well as attending

Kirwan State High School Kirwan State High School is a coeducational state school located in Kirwan, Townsville, Queensland, Australia, approximately from the Townsville CBD. In 2017, it has 1997 students with 156 teachers (145 full-time equivalent) and 75 non-teachi ...

. His cousin Milton Thaiday also became an NRL footballer. Thaiday then moved to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

to complete a degree in medicine and resided at St Leo's College. He graduated with a GPA of 6.75 in medicine and was part of the Leo's executive team with the renowned title, 'Shed'. Thaiday's father, Billy, was born on Yam Island in the Torres Strait and was working on Thursday Island, before becoming part of the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

(RAAF). He signed up for RAAF, when needed the RAAF needed men and women from the Torres Strait Islands to serve in mainland Australia. His mother, Julie Thaiday, grew up in rural

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to ...

and also served in the Royal Australian Air Force.

Playing career

2000s

Thaiday was signed in 2002 by the

after coach Wayne Bennett watched him brawl with

Sonny Bill Williams Sonny Bill Williams (born 3 August 1985) is a New Zealand heavyweight boxer, and a former professional rugby league and rugby union player and as of recently is working for Stan Sports. He is only the second person to represent New Zealand in ...

and

Tom Learoyd-Lahrs Tom Learoyd-Lahrs (born 13 September 1985 in Tweed Heads, New South Wales) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s, he played in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. A New South Wa ...

in an under-17s interstate game. On 11 July 2003, aged 18, he made his

debut for the Broncos against the

Bulldogs The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is of medium size, a muscular, hefty dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose.2003 NRL season. It was to be his only appearance of the season. He followed it up with 8 appearances off the bench in the 2004 NRL season, before featuring in 14 matches in the 2005 NRL season. He started for the first time in his career in Round 2 of that season, however, played the other 13 matches off the bench. Thaiday scored his first career try in Round 26 of 2005 against 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. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and thei ...

. Solid form in the first 10 weeks of the Broncos season earned Thaiday a spot on the

bench for game one of the

2006 State of Origin series The 2006 State of Origin series was the 25th year that the annual best-of-three series of interstate rugby league football matches between the Queensland and New South Wales representative teams was contested entirely under 'state of origin' sele ...

. He was also selected on the bench for the following two games for the Maroons, who went on to win the series. After that, when the Broncos were in the "slump that wasn't a slump", coach Wayne Bennett moved Thaiday from the bench to the starting side. This, among other changes, saw the Broncos' season turn around, and they ended up winning the

2006 NRL Grand Final The 2006 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding match of the NRL's 2006 Telstra Premiership season. It was played between the first-placed Melbourne Storm and the third-placed Brisbane Broncos clubs on the night of Sunday, 1 ...

. Thaiday was selected for his international debut for the Australian national team in Game 2 of the 2006 Tri-Nations against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

after concussion ruled Willie Mason out. He would also feature against Great Britain 2 weeks later, however did not play in Australia's victory in the Final. As 2006 NRL Premiers, the

travelled to England to face 2006

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of ...

champions,

St Helens R.F.C. St Helens R.F.C. is a professional rugby league club in St Helens, Merseyside who compete in the Super League, the top tier for rugby league in Great Britain. They are the current Champions, having won the last 4 consecutive titles, and bec ...

in the 2007 World Club Challenge. Thaiday played from the interchange bench in the Broncos' 14-18 loss. In the 2007 NRL season Thaiday suffered an injury to the bone around his eye socket and missed all three games of the 2007 State of Origin series for the Queensland Maroons while waiting to recover. In a Round 2 match against the

New Zealand Warriors The New Zealand 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 ...

, with regular goal kickers

Darren Lockyer Darren James Lockyer (born 24 March 1977) is an Australian television commentator and former professional rugby league footballer. Lockyer was an Australian international and Queensland State representative captain, who played his entire profes ...

and Corey Parker missing from the side, Thaiday stepped up to take 2 conversion attempts, making 1 of them. Thaiday struggled to find a place in the Broncos side in 2007, bouncing from between the bench and the starting back row while also lining up at lock and five-eighth. He made his 50th first-grade appearance in the NRL in 2007 and re-signed with the Broncos until the end of 2009. Due to his indifferent form, he failed to be selected for either of Australia's two test matches in 2007. In the 2008 NRL season Thaiday was back in form and started the year with a bang, winning back to back man of the match awards in rounds eight and nine to earn himself a starting spot in the

2008 State of Origin series The 2008 State of Origin series was the 27th year that the annual best-of-three series of interstate rugby league football matches between the Queensland and New South Wales representative teams was contested entirely under 'state of origin' sel ...

. After scoring only 4 tries in his previous 5 seasons, he bagged 8 in 2008, including an impressive haul of 5 in 4 games between Round 18 and Round 21. It would be the most tries scored in a season across his career. Sam Thaiday

He was named in the Australia training squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup, however did not make the final squad. In April 2009, Thaiday was named in the 25-man

squad before the opening match of the 2009 State of Origin series. He was named man of the match in the second game of the series. Sam Thaiday Queensland

At club level, Thaiday continued to consistently perform for Brisbane. Sam Thaiday (28 July 2009, Sydney)

At the end of that season, Thaiday played for Australia in its successful

2009 Four Nations The 2009 Rugby League Four Nations tournament (officially known as the Gillette Four Nations due to sponsorship) was the first Rugby League Four Nations since its expansion from the Tri-Nations tournament. Played in England and France over thr ...

campaign in Europe, playing 3 matches off the bench and representing his nation for the first time since 2006.

2010s

For the 2010 ANZAC Test, Thaiday was selected to play for Australia at second-row forward and was named man of the match in its victory against

. During his career, Thaiday was often attacked for how he plays the game, most notably his tendency to enter brawls and scuffles late to "protect" his teammates. In the 2010 State of Origin series Thaiday was much maligned by NSW Blues fans for how he played the game. In Game 2, Luke O'Donnell performed a dangerous tackle that sparked an , the likes of which hadn't been seen for several years. Most notable was a moment towards the end of the melee in which O'Donnell could be seen to headbutt and then uppercut Queensland's Dave Taylor, after which Thaiday re-entered the fray and punched O'Donnell twice. Speaking on his involvement Thaiday said, "I saw the headbutt and I made a bee-line straight over to it. That's just not football; fair is fair if you want to punch on with a bloke I'm all for that. But headbutting - that's a bit below the belt". In a 2010 NRL game, between the Broncos and the

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

, Thaiday again came under criticism, again for entering a fight as the "Third-man-in" (though technically he was fourth). The NRL match review committee chairman Greg McCallum issued Thaiday a warning for his repeat infringements and threatened him with a ban. McCallum said that Thaiday was treading a fine line rushing in to "protect" teammates he felt had been aggrieved. Thaiday continued his consistent performances for Brisbane, cementing his place as a starter in the side. Thaiday scored his first Origin try in Game 1, proving the difference in their 28-24 victory. Queensland would go on to win the series 3-0, the first series sweep since 2000. Thaiday also featured in all 5 of Australia's test matches, all as a starter. Thaiday also featured in the inaugural All-Stars match before the start of the season, lining up for the Indigenous All Stars in their 16-12 victory. In 2011 it was announced that Thaiday would be the Broncos' captain for the following season, taking over from the retiring

despite the return to the club of former Broncos favourite Petero Civoniceva. An experiment with starting Thaiday at prop was abandoned by Round 8, with him returning to the back row for the rest of the season. Thaiday missed the Broncos first two finals matches through suspension, however, returned to captain the Broncos in Lockyer's absence in the Preliminary 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. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rug ...

, leading his side to a gallant 26-14 defeat in his first NRL match as captain. Thaiday once again featured in all 3 matches in the State of Origin. After the 2011 NRL season, Thaiday travelled with the Australian national team to Britain for the 2011 Four Nations tournament, appearing in all 4 matches in the tournament to take his season test tally to 6. In the Final against England, Thaiday scored his first international try. On 3 November 2011 The annual RLIF Awards dinner was held at the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sepa ...

and Thaiday was named second-row forward of the year. Thaiday again featured in the front row sporadically in the 2012 season, however, this was mostly due to injury. As captain, Thaiday came under criticism for the Broncos inability to win tight matches and was particularly under fire when they lost six consecutive matches late in the season. Despite this, Brisbane scraped into the finals in the eighth position, being eliminated in a 33-16 loss to the

in the first week. Thaiday played for Australia in its victory in the 2012 ANZAC Test against New Zealand. He also played in Game I of the 2012 State of Origin series but had to pull out of Game II with a shoulder injury. He would return for Game 3 and return to the Test arena at the end of year test. Thaiday's switch to front row seemed to be made permanent in the

2013 NRL season The 2013 NRL season was the 106th season of professional rugby league club competition in Australia. The National Rugby League's main competition, named the 2013 Telstra Premiership after major sponsors Telstra Corporation, was contested by sixtee ...

, starting his first 14 games in that position before once again reverting to the second row. An inconsistent season saw the Broncos miss the finals for the first time since 2010, with Thaiday criticised for not getting the team on track for "Life after Locky". Thaiday was selected for Australia in the 2013 ANZAC Test and played at second-row forward. In what was the first test match ever played in Canberra,

were defeated. Thaiday played at second-row forward in all three games, and scored a try in the 2nd game, of the

2013 State of Origin series The 2013 State of Origin series was the 32nd time the State of Origin series, annual best-of-three series between the Queensland rugby league team, Queensland and New South Wales rugby league team, New South Wales rugby league teams was played ent ...

in which

extended its record for consecutive series victories to eight. He featured 5 times for Australia in the

2013 Rugby League World Cup The 2013 Rugby League World Cup was the fourteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup and took place in England, Wales, France and Ireland. between 26 October and 30 November 2013. It was the main event of the year's Festival of World Cup ...

, playing a key role in their success. In 2014, Thaiday failed to play 20 games for the first time since 2007, missing much of April and all of May through injury. He had also stepped down as captain, with Corey Parker leading the side. Thaiday was again moved from his standard second-row position, this time playing Lock in the back half of the season, as the Broncos again finished eighth and again were eliminated in the first week by the Cowboys. Thaiday missed Game 1 of the

2014 State of Origin series The 2014 State of Origin series was the 33rd time the annual best-of-three series between the Queensland and New South Wales rugby league teams has been played entirely under 'state of origin' rules (1980 and 1981 were only 1 game series). It is ...

but returned to play in the second and third games, but New South Wales series victory marked the first time in his Origin career that Thaiday had lost a series. He also missed the ANZAC test but reclaimed his spot for the 2014 Four Nations. In 2015, Thaiday returned to his best under supercoach Wayne Bennett. He started the season switching between the second row, prop, lock and the bench, before cementing a spot at prop in Round 18 and holding it for the remainder of the season. Thaiday featured in the second grand final of his career, starting at prop in the Broncos heartbreaking 17-16 defeat, once again to the Cowboys. He featured in all 3 games of Queensland's successful Origin campaign and featured in Australia's victorious ANZAC Test. In 2016, Thaiday was selected to play for Queensland in the 2016 state of origin series. After Queensland emerged victorious in game 1 of the series, Thaiday was interviewed post-match by Brad Fittler. Fittler had asked how it felt defeating New South Wales after a tough match. Thaiday told Fittler "It was a bit like losing your virginity, it wasn't very nice but we got the job done". On the field, Thaiday's production began to noticeably decline. He began the season coming off the bench, however, returned to his usual position in the second row after Round 19. The Broncos were able to finish fifth in an extremely tight

2016 NRL season The 2016 NRL season was the 109th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 19th season run by the National Rugby League. The season started in New Zealand with the annual Auckland Nines, and was followed by the All Stars Match, w ...

, before falling to the Cowboys yet again, this time in the second week. He once again featured in all 3 Origin games, however, was relegated to the bench for Australia, playing the entire

2016 Four Nations The 2016 Rugby League Four Nations tournament (known as the 2016 Ladbrokes Four Nations, for sponsorship purposes) was the fifth staging of the Rugby League Four Nations tournament and was played in England in October and November. The series was c ...

in that role. Sam Thaiday Australia

In 2017, Thaiday's decline was showcased to the rugby league community. He spent much of the 2017 NRL season on the bench, sporadically appearing in the back row, before finding a spot at hooker then at prop by the end of the season. Thaiday was relegated to the bench for Queensland under new coach

Kevin Walters Kevin David Walters (born 20 October 1967) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who is the Head Coach of the Brisbane Broncos in the NRL and a former professional rugby league footballer who played as a premiership-winni ...

, before being dropped entirely following Queensland's Game 1 defeat, ending his Origin career. Similarly, his Australian career ended after the ANZAC Test.

Retirement

On 6 July 2018, Thaiday announced his retirement from rugby league in bizarre circumstances. Thaiday dressed as an elderly man and had called a press conference outside a Brisbane retirement home to confirm he would draw the curtain on his 16-season career. Thaiday explained why he had dressed in such a way saying "I’ve always been a bit different in everything I’ve done but I’ve always been true to myself and done things my way". A week after his announcement, after the Broncos played the Warriors at Suncorp Stadium, the Warriors offered Thaiday a farewell with the team, wishing him the best for the future. "We did the same thing with (Johnathan Thurston) a couple of weeks ago … we think it’s important the people that have been a big part of the game and achieved everything, it’s important for our group to show some respect for them", Blake Green said. In the

2018 NRL season The 2018 NRL season was the 111th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 21st season run by the National Rugby League. The main competition, known as the 2018 Telstra Premiership due to sponsorship from Telstra, featured 16 te ...

, Thaiday again started at prop for a majority of the season. In Round 22 of the season, Thaiday played his 300th first-grade match, ironically against the Cowboys. Thaiday's last regular-season match was played in front of a sellout crowd at

Suncorp Stadium Lang Park, also known as Brisbane Football Stadium, by the sponsored name Suncorp Stadium, and nicknamed: 'The Cauldron', is a multi-purpose stadium in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, located in the suburb of Milton. The current facility co ...

, as fans watched the Broncos defeat Manly. The Broncos returned to Suncorp a week later in an Elimination Final match with the

St George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George, Sydney, St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since NR ...

. Despite being heavy favourites, the Broncos capitulated 48-18, being knocked out and ending Thaiday's career. Thaiday is widely considered an NRL great, appearing in 304 matches, all for the Brisbane Broncos. Despite only scoring more than 5 tries in a season once, Thaiday's long career resulted in a career total of 40 tries. He featured 29 times for Queensland, becoming a key piece of the side which won 10 Origin titles in 11 seasons. He represented his country 34 times, winning a Tri-Nations, 3 Four Nations and a World Cup title.

Career Stats

Accolades

Dally M Second Rower of the Year: 2010, 2011 Ron McAuliffe Medal: 2010 Ken Stephen Memorial Award: 2011 RLIF Second Rower of the Year: 2011

References

External links

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Brisbane Broncos profileNRL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thaiday, Sam 1985 births Living people Australian rugby league players Indigenous Australian rugby league players Australia national rugby league team players Brisbane Broncos players Brisbane Broncos captains Queensland Rugby League State of Origin players Indigenous All Stars players Prime Minister's XIII players Toowoomba Clydesdales players Rugby league second-rows Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby league props Rugby league locks People educated at Kirwan State High School Torres Strait Islanders