Chris Flannery (born 5 June 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. A

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 played his club football in 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 ...

for 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 ...

, with whom he won the

2002 NRL Premiership The 2002 NRL season was the 95th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the fifth to be run by the National Rugby League. The season was affected by the competition-leading Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs' salary cap breach f ...

, and in the

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

for St. Helens, with whom he won the

2008 Challenge Cup The 2008 Challenge Cup (also known as the Carnegie Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 107th staging of the Challenge Cup most prestigious knock-out competition in the world of Rugby league, featuring teams from across Europe, includin ...

. Flannery's usual position was although he also played as a or . After retiring Flannery administered the

Sunshine Coast Falcons The Sunshine Coast Falcons are a rugby league football team based on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. They compete in the Queensland Cup and their home ground is Sunshine Coast Stadium. The Falcons are currently affiliated with the NRL team Melbo ...

of the

Queensland Cup The Queensland Cup, currently known as the Hostplus Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level regional rugby league, rugby league football competition in Queensland, Australia. It is run by the Queensland Rugby League, Queensland Rugby ...

Background

Born in

Cowra, New South Wales Cowra () is a town in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre and the council seat for the Cowra Shire, with a population of 8,254. Cowra is located approximately above sea level, on the b ...

, Flannery's family moved to the

Sunshine Coast, Queensland The Sunshine Coast is a peri-urbanisation, peri-urban region in South East Queensland, Australia. In 1967, it was defined as "the area contained in the

ormer Abalone ( or ; via Spanish , from Rumsen ''aulón'') is a common name for any small to very large marine gastropod mollusc in the family Haliotidae, which once contained six genera but now contains only one genus, ''Haliotis''. Other commo ...

Shires of Shire of Landsborough, Landsborough, Shire of Maroochy, Maroochy and Shire ...

when he was 10, where he played his junior rugby league for the Kawana Dolphins.

Playing career

National Rugby League

Flannery made his National Rugby League début for the Sydney Roosters in Round 14 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 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 ...

Campbelltown Stadium Campbelltown Sports Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Leumeah, a suburb in South Western Sydney, Australia, owned by Campbelltown City Council. Formerly known as Orana Park and Campbelltown Sports Ground, it is currently the home ground ...

on 7 May. He was first selected to play for

in Game II of the

2002 State of Origin series The 2002 State of Origin series saw the 21st time that the annual three-game series between the Queensland and New South Wales representative rugby league football teams was played entirely under ' state of origin' selection rules. It was the s ...

at ANZ Stadium in Brisbane on 5 June. Queensland won 26–18. Flannery played for the Roosters from the interchange bench in their

2002 NRL grand final The 2002 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2002 NRL season. It took place on Sunday, 6 October 2002, at Sydney's Telstra Stadium. 80,130 people saw the Sydney Roosters beat the New Zealand Warriors 30–8. ...

victory over the

New Zealand Warriors The 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 the Aucklan ...

, scoring a try. Having won the

, the Roosters traveled to England to play the

2003 World Club Challenge The 2003 World Club Challenge match was contested on Sunday, 16 February by National Rugby League season 2002 premiers, the Sydney Roosters and Super League VII premiers, St Helens R.F.C., St. Helens. 19,807 spectators turned out at Bolton's Reebo ...

against

champions, St. Helens. Flannery played at centre in Sydney's victory. He again played from the interchange bench for the Roosters in the

2003 NRL grand final The 2003 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding match of the 2003 NRL season. In what was a contest of Sydney's east versus west, defending premiers the Sydney Roosters played against minor premiers the Penrith Panthers. T ...

which was lost to the

Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Greater Western Sydney suburb of Penrith, New South Wales, Penrith that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL). The team is based west of the cen ...

. Flannery played for Queensland in all three matches of the

2004 State of Origin series The 2004 State of Origin series was the 23rd time that the annual three-game series between the Queensland and New South Wales representative rugby league football teams was contested entirely under ' state of origin' selection rules. A pre-ser ...

. He played for the Roosters at lock forward in their 2004 NRL grand final loss to cross-Sydney rivals,

Canterbury-Bankstown Canterbury-Bankstown is a customary region of Sydney, Australia, in Inner South-Western Sydney. The region is located to the north of the St George region (from which it is separated by Wolli Creek) and to the south of the Inner West region ...

Super League

In 2007, Flannery signed for St. Helens on a three-and-a-half-year deal. Flannery was brought in as a direct replacement for fellow Australian

Jason Hooper Jason Hooper is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played for the Illawarra Steelers, St George Illawarra Dragons and St Helens. A former Junior Kangaroo, Hooper completed six seasons in the NRL between 1997 and 2002 before emb ...

who had to retire following problems with his shoulder. Flannery described himself as a hard worker and strong in defence. "I also like to add a bit to the ball playing by taking it up at first or second receiver. I also like to run good lines into holes." He commenced his

Knowsley Road Knowsley Road is a former football stadium in Eccleston, St Helens, Merseyside. It was the home ground of St. Helens from 1890 until its closure in 2010. St Helens Town FC played their home fixtures at Knowsley Road from 2002 until 2010. For ...

career in July, 2007, after recovering from a broken leg. He played in the 2008 Super League Grand Final defeat by the

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club play their home games at Headingley Rugby Stadium, AMT Headingley Rugby Stadium and compete in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby lea ...

. He played in the

2009 Super League Grand Final The 2009 Super League Grand Final was the 12th official Grand Final and conclusive and championship-deciding match of the Super League XIV season. It was held on Saturday 10 October 2009, at Old Trafford, Manchester, and was contested by defendi ...

defeat by the

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

Post-playing

After returning to Australia, Flannery became chief executive of

team the

. Flannery was inducted into the Sunshine Coast Sports Hall of Fame in 2023.

Footnotes

External links

*
Saints Heritage Society profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flannery, Chris 1980 births Living people Australian rugby league administrators Australian rugby league players Prime Minister's XIII players Queensland Rugby League State of Origin players Rugby league centres Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Cowra, New South Wales Rugby league second-rows St Helens R.F.C. players Australian expatriate rugby league players in England Sydney Roosters players 21st-century Australian sportsmen