Bob Lindner (born 10 November 1962) 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 1980s and 1990s, and coached in the 1990s. An Australia national and

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 ...

State of Origin representative forward, he is one of a handful of players to be named man-of-the-match in State of Origin football more than once. Fifteen years after his retirement from football in Australia, he had made the most appearances and scored the most tries of any forward in State of Origin history.

Brisbane Rugby League

Lindner went to Iona College, Brisbane. Lindner played for South Brisbane Magpies in the

Brisbane Rugby League The Brisbane Rugby League premiership was a rugby league football competition in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was first held in 1922 and for every year until 1997. The competition was reinstated in Brisbane Rugby League (2001), 2001, kno ...

from 1983 to 1984, playing in South's losing 1984 Grand Final team alongside

Mal Meninga Malcolm Norman Meninga (; born 8 July 1960) is an Australian professional rugby league coach and a former professional rugby league footballer. Meninga is widely regarded as one of the finest players in the game's history. He enjoyed a long ca ...

, Gary Belcher and

Peter Jackson Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand filmmaker. He is best known as the director, writer, and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy (2012–2014), both of which ar ...

. In 1985 he signed with the team who had defeated Souths in the 1984 Grand Final, the Wynnum-Manly Seagulls, where he played alongside

and

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 ...

captain Wally Lewis, Gene Miles, Greg Dowling and Colin Scott. The 1985 BRL Grand Final saw Souths Magpies defeat Wynnum-Manly 10–8. Lindner won his only BRL premiership in 1986 as the Seagulls defeated Past Brothers 14–6 in the Grand Final at Lang Park.

New South Wales rugby league

Following his successful Kangaroo tour, Lindner signed with reigning NSWRL premiers, 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 ...

as a much-anticipated replacement for club captain Ray Price, who had retired following the Eels 1986 Grand Final win over Canterbury-Bankstown. Lindner played in Queensland's 2–1 1987 State of Origin series win and retained his place at in the Australian test team for the one-off test against New Zealand at Lang Park which saw the Kiwis cause an upset with a 13–7 win, snapping Australia's 9 game winning streak. At the end of the 1987 NSWRL season, Lindner played a short stint with English club side

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield district, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the t ...

( Heritage No. 655) for part of the 1987–88 Rugby Football League season. He scored a try in Castleford's 12–12 draw with Bradford Northern in the 1987 Yorkshire Cup Final at

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

on Saturday 17 October 1987, but he did not play in the 11–2 defeat by Bradford in the final's replay at

Elland Road Elland Road, or Elland Road Stadium, is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the Home (sports), home of Leeds United F.C., Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the List of foot ...

in Leeds two weeks later. Back in Australia in 1988 following his stint at Wheldon Road (Castleford's home ground), Lindner played in Queensland's 3–0 Origin series sweep of

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 ...

before being selected for all three Ashes series tests against the touring Great Britain side. The Australian's defeated the Lions 2–1 to retain The Ashes that they had not lost since 1970. After 28 games over two seasons for the Eels in which they failed to play finals football, Lindner signed with newly created expansion team, the Gold Coast Giants for the 1989 NSWRL season. A broken leg suffered in Game 2 of the 1989 State of Origin series at the Sydney Football Stadium saw Lindner ruled out of the Australian teams mid-season tour of New Zealand. Following his year on the Gold Coast, Lindner signed with Sydney team Western Suburbs for the 1990 NSWRL season. He was named man-of-the-match in the Game III of the 1990 State of Origin series, and at the end of the season was selected to his

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Kangaroo Tour. His performances for the 1990 Kangaroos saw him named the player of the tour. Lindner suffered another broken leg in early 1991 but made a strong recovery before breaking the leg again playing in the first test of the 1991 Trans-Tasman series against New Zealand in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. 1992 saw him named man-of-the-match in the second game of 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 ...

and during the 1992 Great Britain Lions tour, he helped Australia retain

The Ashes The Ashes is a Test cricket series played biennially between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, '' The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, ...

, pushing his Test tally to 19, before playing in the 1992 Rugby League World Cup final win over Great Britain at the

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

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. Wests' salary cap problems saw him join his fourth NSWRL club, the Illawarra Steelers, in 1993, but after playing for Australia in the mid-season test series against New Zealand, and for Queensland in the Origin series (including a try-scoring performance in the Maroons' 24–12 game 3 win, his last game for his state), he announced his intention to leave Australia and play abroad. Lindner's player agent, the Sydney businessman Michael Saad, received many offers and the 24-Test veteran subsequently announced that he had signed for

Oldham Oldham is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers River Irk, Irk and River Medlock, Medlock, southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative cent ...

( Heritage No. 1017). During the 1993–94 Rugby Football League season, Lindner took over as captain-coach of Oldham following the departure of fellow Australian forward, Peter Tunks and successfully averted the team's relegation to Second Division.

Post-playing career

Lindner then returned to Australia and linked with the short-lived South Queensland Crushers where he was originally recruited as a player but retired in order to replace Bill Gardner as club coach in 1995–96. He stood down as coach in 1997, the Crushers' final year in the

Australian Rugby League The Australian Rugby League Commission Limited (ARL), formerly the Australian Rugby Football League Limited known as the Australian Rugby League is an Australian rugby league football competition operator. It was founded in 1986 as the Australi ...

premiership. In 2000, Lindner was awarded the Australian Sports Medal for his contribution to Australia's international standing in rugby league. In June 2008, he was chosen in the

Queensland Rugby League's Team of the Century The Queensland Rugby League Team of the Century is a hypothetical team comprising the best players who have played for Queensland to form a team for 1909 until 2008. Rugby league in Queensland was initiated in 1909 with the Queensland Rugby Leagu ...

at lock-forward. In 2009, Lindner was a member 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 ...

's judiciary panel. He has also been a qualified

Optometrist Optometry is the healthcare practice concerned with examining the eyes for visual defects, prescribing corrective lenses, and detecting eye abnormalities. In the United States and Canada, optometrists are those that hold a post-baccalaureate f ...

since 1985. Lindner's university exams actually fell during both his début State of Origin series in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

, and again in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

, causing him to have to miss team bonding sessions so he could study.

References

External links

Bob Lindner at stateoforigin.com.au''Queensland Team of the Century named'' – article at nz.leagueunlimited.comBob Lindner at yesterdayshero.com.auQueensland Representatives at qrl.com.au
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lindner, Bob 1962 births Living people Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league players Australian expatriate rugby league players in England Australian optometrists Brisbane rugby league team players Castleford Tigers players Gold Coast Chargers players Illawarra Steelers players Oldham R.L.F.C. captains Oldham R.L.F.C. coaches Oldham R.L.F.C. players Parramatta Eels players Queensland Rugby League State of Origin players Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Brisbane Rugby league second-rows South Queensland Crushers Souths Logan Magpies players Western Suburbs Magpies players Wynnum Manly Seagulls players People educated at Iona College Brisbane 20th-century Australian sportsmen