Shane Millard (born 30 July 1975) 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 as a and forward in the 1990s and 2000s. During his career he played for the

London Broncos The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club in London, England. The club competes in the RFL Championship. It was a member of Super League from its inaugural season in 1996 until the end of the 2014 season, when they were relegat ...

Widnes Vikings The Widnes Vikings are an English rugby league club in Widnes, Cheshire, which competes in the Betfred Championship. The club plays home matches at the Halton Stadium. Founded as Widnes Football Club, they are one of the original twenty-two ...

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club was formed in 1870 as Leeds St John's and play in the Super League, the top tier of English rugby league. They have played home matches at Head ...

and the

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors are a professional rugby league club in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Super League. Formed in 1872 as Wigan Football Club, Wigan was a founding member of the Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby ...

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 ...

as well as gaining recognition in the NRL with the

Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby league, Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won ...

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian rugby league club based in Redfern, New South Wales, Redfern, a suburb of inner-southern Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and are ...

and 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 ...

Career

Millard, who grew up on the Mid North Coast of NSW in Port Macquarie and attended Westport High School, was one of the most experienced players currently playing in the Super League. He has Super League experience with

, and has also played for NRL teams, including 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 ...

. In 2004 Millard completed a match for Widnes with a fragment of tooth embedded in his head after a head clash in the first half with the

Castleford Tigers The Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England, that compete in the Super League, the top-level professional rugby league club competition in the Northern Hemisphere. The club have competed ...

Dean Ripley Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

. He played for Widnes Vikings for three years before the club was relegated in 2004 after which he joined Leeds Rhinos to provide back up for

Matt Diskin Matt Diskin (27 January 1982) an English professional rugby league coach was the head coach of Oldham in the Betfred Championship, and a former professional rugby league footballer who played as a in the 2000s and 2010s. He played at represe ...

. At the end of 2006 Shane was released from his contract with Leeds and in December 2006 it was announced he had signed a contract with Wigan Warriors on a 2-year deal. The signing of Millard by Wigan was met with mixed reaction by the Wigan fans, some believed that Millards experience would benefit the Wigan side while other believed that signing a 30-year-old Australian was not benefiting English talent and was not a suitable replacement for Wayne Godwin Millard has played much of his football as a second row. Though not the tallest or biggest for a he more than made up for this fact with superb agility and ferocious defence. The hard-working forward was also versatile enough to play as a for the

After a shoulder problem in the 2007 season Millard decided to retire from rugby league after helping Wigan to the semifinals of the Super League playoffs. Millard played for the Thirroul Butchers in the 2009 Illawarra rugby league competition. As of 2010 Shane resides in Wollongong, NSW Australia with his wife and three daughters. He played representative football for the

USA Tomahawks The United States national rugby league team represents the United States in international rugby league football competitions. The team is managed by the USA Rugby League (USARL). The United States competed with little success in some intern ...

Coaching career

In 1999, he coached the USA in three fixtures, namely 2 wins against Japan and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

, respectively, followed by defeat to

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

. In 2018, Millard was announced as the new head coach of the

North Sydney Bears The North Sydney Bears is an Australian rugby league football club based in North Sydney, New South Wales. The club competes in the New South Wales Cup, having exited the National Rugby League following the 1999 NRL season after 90 years in the ...

. At the end of the 2018 season, Millard was released as North Sydney coach and replaced by former Norths player Jason Taylor. In 2019, Millard became the head coach of the South Sydney, Canterbury Cup NSW side. On 6 May, Millard was selected as the coach for the Canterbury Cup NSW residents side to play against the Queensland residents representative team.

References

External links

*(archived by web.archive.org
Profile at wiganwarriors.comProfile at souths.com.auLondon Broncos profile
*(archived by web.archive.org
Profile at leedsrugby
{{DEFAULTSORT:Millard, Shane 1976 births Living people American rugby league players Australian people of American descent Australian people of Irish descent Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league players Leeds Rhinos players London Broncos players North Sydney Bears coaches Rugby league hookers Rugby league players from New South Wales South Sydney Rabbitohs players St. George Illawarra Dragons players Sydney Roosters players United States national rugby league team coaches United States national rugby league team players Western Suburbs Magpies players Widnes Vikings players Wigan Warriors players People from Wauchope, New South Wales