Ben Hornby (born 18 February 1980) 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 2000s and 2010s. An

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 ...

international 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 ...

State of Origin representative back, he captained the

St George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons are an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since 1999 after a j ...

of 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 ...

from 2009 until his retirement in 2012. Hornby played his entire career with the Dragons, leading them to the 2010 NRL Premiership and becoming their most capped player since the formation of the joint venture club in 1999.

Early life

Hornby was born in

Wollongong Wollongong ( ; Dharawal: ''Woolyungah'') is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near water' or 'sound ...

, Australia. He went to Corrimal Public School and Corrimal High School.

Playing career

Hornby began his NRL rugby league career in round 23 of the

2000 NRL season The 2000 NRL season was the 93rd season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the third to be run by the National Rugby League. Fourteen teams competed from February until August for the NRL Premiership, culminating in the 200 ...

against Penrith which ended in a 42-12 loss at

Penrith Stadium Penrith Stadium, currently known as BlueBet Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league and association football stadium located in Penrith, New South Wales, Australia. The 22,500 capacity venue is the home ground for the Penrith Panthe ...

. In the

2005 NRL season The 2005 NRL season was the 98th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the eighth run by the National Rugby League. The lineup of clubs remained unchanged from the previous year, with fifteen teams contesting the 2005 Tels ...

, Hornby played 25 games for St. George Illawarra as they finished second on the table. Hornby played in their upset preliminary final loss 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 ...

. The following season, Hornby played 27 games for St. George Illawarra as they once again reached another preliminary final with the opponent this time being Melbourne. St. George Illawarra would lose the match 24-10. Previously a co-captain in 2007, in 2009 coach Wayne Bennett appointed Hornby captain of St. George from the start of the

2009 NRL season The 2009 NRL season was the 102nd season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the twelfth run by the National Rugby League. For the third consecutive year, sixteen teams competed for the 2009 Telstra Premiersh ...

. Hornby would play 26 games for the club in 2009 as they claimed the

Minor Premiership A minor premiership is the title given to the team which finishes a sporting competition first in the league standings after the regular season but prior to commencement of the finals in several Australian sports leagues. Origins The etymolo ...

but were eliminated from the finals in straight sets. Hornby was selected for Country in the City vs Country match on 8 May 2009. However, he did not play in the match after withdrawing with injury. On 3 October 2010, Hornby captained St. George Illawarra to their first Premiership in 31 years, when they defeated 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 ...

32–8 in the

2010 NRL Grand Final The 2010 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2010 NRL season. Played on Sunday, 3 October at Sydney's ANZ Stadium, the match was contested by the St. George Illawarra Dragons and the Sydney Roosters. It was ...

. He went on to captain the club to victory in the following February's

2011 World Club Challenge The 2011 World Club Challenge (known as the Probiz World Club Challenge due to sponsorship) was contested by Super League XV champions, Wigan Warriors, and 2010 NRL Premiers, the St. George Illawarra Dragons, at Wigan's home ground, DW Stadium. ...

against the

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors is an English professional rugby league club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. The club competes in the Super League, the top tier of the British rugby league system. Formed in 1872, the club is a founding member of the Ru ...

in England. Hornby announced his retirement from St. George Illawarra in August 2012 after playing 13 seasons for the club.

Representative career

He represented

in the

State of Origin series The State of Origin series is an annual best-of-three rugby league series between two States and territories of Australia, Australian state representative sides, the New South Wales rugby league team, New South Wales Blues and the Queensland ru ...

of 2004, 2006 and 2008 and played one match for Australia, their loss to Great Britain during the

2006 Rugby League Tri-Nations The 2006 Rugby League Tri-Nations (also known as the Gillette Rugby League Tri-Nations due to sponsorship by Gillette) was the second Rugby League Tri-Nations tournament hosted by Australia and New Zealand. The tournament followed the same format ...

Career highlights

*''Junior Club:''

Corrimal Cougars The Corrimal Cougars are an Australian rugby league football team based in Corrimal, New South Wales, Corrimal, a northern suburb of the city of Wollongong. The club are a part of Country Rugby League and has competed in the Illawarra Rugby Leag ...

*''First Grade Debut:'' Round 23, St George Illawarra v Penrith at Penrith, 8 July 2000 *''Representative Record:'' Under 19 Australia 1999, Under 19s NSW 1999, Origin NSW 2004, City vs Country 2005 and 2006, NSW 2006,

Junior Kangaroos The Junior Kangaroos side represents Australia in the sport of rugby league. They are commonly known as the Junior Kangaroos, after the native marsupial of that name. Since 2019, they are an under-23 side, with players selected from the NRL. Th ...

2006, Australia 2006 *''Captaincy:'' Round 1, St George Illawarra v Melbourne Storm at Melbourne, 2009 *''Premiership:'' Grand Final, St George Illawarra v Sydney Roosters at ANZ Stadium, 3 October 2010 *Inducted as a life member 2024.

Coaching career

Upon retiring in 2012, Hornby began his coaching career as the junior development coach for St. George before becoming an assistant to the first grade side in later years. In 2020, Hornby joined the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney District Rugby League Football Club, also known as the South Sydney Rabbitohs, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra, New South Wales, Maroubra that competes in the Nat ...

club as the development coach. Since 2021, he was the assistant coach to Wayne Bennett and later Jason Demetriou. On 30 April 2024, Hornby was named as interim head coach at South Sydney after the club sacked Demetriou following a string of poor results which saw South Sydney at the bottom of the table. In Hornby's first game in charge against Penrith, South Sydney would lose 42-12. It would be the same score line and opponent that he experienced during his first grade debut as a player. Hornby earned his first win in charge of South Sydney in round 12 of the

2024 NRL season The 2024 NRL season was the 117th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 27th season run by the National Rugby League (NRL). The season consisted of 27 competition rounds, followed by a finals series contested by the top eight ...

as they defeated Parramatta 42-26. Hornby would then guide South Sydney on a five-game winning run which took the club away from the wooden spoon zone. However, in South Sydney's last nine games, they recorded only one victory and finished second last on the table only two points clear of last placed Wests Tigers.

References

External links

State of Origin Official website Rugby League Player Stats

Ben Hornby
player profile at

St. George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons are an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since 1999 after a j ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hornby, Ben 1980 births Living people Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league players Corrimal Cougars players Country New South Wales Origin rugby league team players New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league halfbacks Rugby league players from Wollongong South Sydney Rabbitohs coaches St. George Illawarra Dragons players St. George Illawarra Dragons captains 21st-century Australian sportsmen