David Westley (born 7 June 1974) is a 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 and assistant coach of the

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

. A Papua New Guinea international front-rower, he played club football for the

Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugb ...

, with whom he won the 1994 Winfield Cup Premiership before spending time with 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 ...

and the

Northern Eagles The Northern Eagles were a rugby league team that competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) between 2000 and 2002. The club was formed during the rationalisation process of the NRL by forming a joint venture with the North Sydney Bears and th ...

Playing career

Westley's junior club was the Cairns Kangaroos. He was Canberra's Rookie of the Year in 1993, and was a part of the

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

winning side in 1994 as they defeated Canterbury-Bankstown in the decider. As of the

2020 NRL season The 2020 NRL season was the 113th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 23rd season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 14th consecutive year. ; Notes : : : Pre-season ...

, this has been Canberra's last premiership victory. The following year, Westley was selected to play for

in the 1995 World Cup in England. Westley played for Canberra until the end of the 1999 NRL season before departing the club to sign with

Parramatta Parramatta (; ) is a suburb (Australia), suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney. Parramatta is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, on the banks of the Parramatta River. It is co ...

. Westley played 25 games for Parramatta in his first season at the club as they reached the preliminary final against

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

which Parramatta lost 16–10 at

Stadium Australia Stadium Australia, currently known as Accor Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the suburb of Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The stadium, which is sometimes referred to as Sydney Ol ...

. He played eight games the following year at Parramatta finished as runaway

Minor Premiers 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 etymology ...

. He was selected to start in the Front row for

in a test match against the defending world champions

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 ...

coming up with a brilliant offload to put John Wilshire over the line. In 2002, he signed for the

playing twelve games. He then returned to

Cairns Cairns (; ) is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people. The city was founded in 1876 and named after William Cairns, Sir W ...

to coach the senior side.

References

1974 births Living people 20th-century Papua New Guinean sportsmen 21st-century Papua New Guinean sportsmen Australian people of Papua New Guinean descent Canberra Raiders players Northern Eagles players Papua New Guinea national rugby league team players Papua New Guinean rugby league players Parramatta Eels players Rugby league props Rugby league players from the Autonomous Region of Bougainville {{PapuaNewGuinea-rugbyleague-bio-stub