Danny Buderus (born 6 February 1978) is an Australian

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 ...

commentator, coach and former professional footballer who played in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. An Australian international and

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

State of Origin representative , he played 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 ...

for Australian club, the Newcastle Knights, with whom he won a Dally M Medal, and the

2001 NRL Premiership 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 b ...

before setting a new record for most games with the club. Buderus also played in the

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 w ...

for English club, the Leeds Rhinos, with whom he won 2011's Super League XVI. He set the record for most appearances as captain of the

State of Origin team at 15 and for most consecutive appearances for the side at 21. Buderus also played representative football for the

Exiles Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...

and New South Wales Country. In 2015, he took up an interim coaching role with the Knights and continued as an assistant coach in 2016.

Background

Buderus was born in Taree, New South Wales, Australia. He played his junior football for Taree Red Rovers and played 1 season for Taree United. In 1995, while attending

St Francis Xavier's College, Hamilton St Francis Xavier's College Hamilton is a Catholic secondary school located within the suburb of Hamilton, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. Founded in 1985 by the Marist Brothers as a Year 7-10 boys high school, the school is now co-educat ...

, Buderus played for the Australian Schoolboys team. Other players to also come through this well-known rugby league nursery under the tutelage of Mark Wright include Owen Craigie, Jarrod Mullen, Paul Dan and Anthony Tupou.

Professional playing career

Newcastle Knights

In Round 3 of the 1997 ARL season Buderus made his

ARL ARL may refer to: Military * US Navy hull classification symbol for repair ship * Admiralty Research Laboratory, UK * United States Army Research Laboratory * ARL 44, a WWII French tank Organizations * Aero Research Limited, a UK adhesives com ...

début for the Newcastle Knights against the South Queensland Crushers. Buderus scored his first try in first-grade in 1998 against the Auckland Warriors in Round 7 of the 1998 NRL season. In 2001, Buderus was selected for Country Origin in the annual City vs Country Origin match. In 2001, Buderus made his international début for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

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 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

. Buderus played in the Knights' 2001 NRL Grand Final win over the Parramatta Eels, the Knights winning 30–24. Having won the

, the Knights travelled to England to play the 2002 World Club Challenge against

champions, the Bradford Bulls. Buderus played at , and scored a try in Newcastle's loss. He made his State of Origin début for

in 2002. Buderus played his 100th

NRL 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 ...

game in Round 14 of the 2002 NRL season against the Parramatta Eels. In 2002, Buderus was named the

Dally M The Dally M Awards are the official annual player awards for the National Rugby League competition. As well as honouring the player of the year, who received the Dally M Medal, awards are also given to the premier player in each position, the be ...

Hooker of the Year and

Representative Player of the Year at the Dally M Awards at the end of the regular season. Buderus played a pivotal role in Newcastle making the semi-finals again in 2003 and ended the season again named Hooker of the Year. In 2004, Buderus was awarded the 2004 Dally M Medal for the Player of the Year, only the second to be awarded the medal after

Mal Cochrane Mal Cochrane (born 3 April 1961 in Taree, New South Wales) is an Indigenous Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. He played for the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in the New South Wales Rugby Leag ...

as well as the 2004 Hooker of the Year. Buderus was selected in the Australian team to go and compete in the end of season 2004 Rugby League Tri-Nations tournament. In the final against

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...

he played at hooker in the Kangaroos' 44–4 victory. In 2005 Buderus again won the Hooker of the Year award. On 13 March 2008, Buderus signed a 2-year contract with the Leeds Rhinos starting in 2009. In August 2008, Buderus was named in the preliminary 46-man Kangaroos squad for the

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup since its 1954 Rugby League World Cup, inauguration in 1954, and the first since the 2000 Rugby League World Cup, 2000 tournament. The tournament was held ...

despite comments by Kangaroos' coach, Ricky Stuart, that he would not select players leaving Australia to play in England in 2009. However Buderus wasn't selected to play in a game.

Leeds Rhinos

Buderus commenced playing in the

for English club the Leeds Rhinos in 2009. He re-signed with the Rhinos on a 2-year contract during 2010. He played in the 2010 Challenge Cup Final defeat by the Warrington Wolves at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

. In 2011, Buderus played for the Leeds Rhinos in their 2011 Challenge Cup Final defeat by 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 ...

. On 10 June 2011, Buderus was selected in the

squad for the Rugby League International Origin Match against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

at Headingley while playing for the Leeds Rhinos of the

. He also captained the side to a victory. In 2011, Buderus played for Leeds in their

2011 Super League Grand Final The 2011 Super League Grand Final was the 14th official Grand Final and the championship-deciding game of the Super League XVI season. It was held on Saturday, 8 October at Manchester, England's Old Trafford stadium. The match was contested by ...

win over St Helens, with Leeds winning 30–16 at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wembl ...

, in which was his final game for the club. After new Newcastle Knights coach Wayne Bennett requested Buderus' services, Buderus signed a 1-year contract on 1 October 2011 with the Newcastle Knights starting in 2012, returning to the club he had played 220 games for. He had been released from the final year of his Leeds Rhinos contract to sign with Newcastle.

Return to Newcastle

In 2012, 7 weeks into his return to the

, Buderus was again selected for Country Origin at starting , however he withdrew due to injury. Later in the year there was speculation he would be named at for

in Game 1 of the

2012 State of Origin series The 2012 State of Origin series was the 31st time the annual best-of-three series between the Queensland and New South Wales rugby league teams was played entirely under 'state of origin' rules. For the fourth successive year a Queensland victor ...

but was injured and didn't get picked, Robbie Farah was instead picked and retained his spot for the rest of the series. On 12 June 2012, Buderus re-signed with the Knights on a 1-year contract, 14 rounds into the 2012 season. In September 2013, Buderus announced his retirement at the end of 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 six ...

. During the Knights vs Roosters Preliminary Final, Buderus entered a tackle and made contact with the elbow of

Jared Waerea-Hargreaves Jared Waerea-Hargreaves (born 20 January 1989) is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who plays as a for the Sydney Roosters in the National Rugby League (NRL) and New Zealand at international level. Waerea-Hargreaves started h ...

, knocking him out. This saw Buderus stretchered from the field, ending his career. However, later scans in hospital cleared the retiring hooker of any serious head or neck injuries.

Accolades

; Dally M Hooker Of The Year 2002, 2004, 2005 ; Dally M Representative Player Of The Year 2002 ; Dally M Player Of The Year 2004 ; RLPA Player of the Year 2004 ;

Brad Fittler Medal State of Origin results and statistics have been accumulating since the 1980 State of Origin game. Every game played under State of Origin selection rules, including the additional 1987 exhibition match and the matches played between New South Wa ...

2009

Coaching career

Buderus stayed with the Knights as an assistant coach for 2014. In July 2015, Buderus was made interim head coach, following the sacking of

Rick Stone Rick Stone (born 14 February 1967) is a professional rugby league football coach and former player. He has coached the Newcastle Knights in the National Rugby League, the Huddersfield Giants in the Super League, the Sydney Roosters in the NRL ...

. After the 2016 season, he chose to leave his role as an assistant coach. He served as pathways coach in 2017. Buderus is also a selector for the NSW Blues helping select the series winning side along with Greg Alexander and former Knights teammate and

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 ...

Immortal Andrew Johns.

References

Sources

NRL profile
*(archived by web.archive.org
2013 Newcastle Knights profile2001 Ashes profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buderus, Danny 1978 births Living people Australia national rugby league team captains Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Australian rugby league administrators Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league commentators Australian rugby league players Country New South Wales Origin rugby league team players Exiles rugby league team captains Leeds Rhinos players New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin captains Newcastle Knights captains Newcastle Knights coaches Rugby league hookers Rugby league players from Taree