Don Tweddle Jr. (born 7 September 1979), also known by the nickname of "Twedds", is an Australian former

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. He played for the

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the Sutherland Shire of Southern Sydney, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. Cronulla compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugb ...

. His position of choice was .

Background

Tweddle 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

. He went to Corrimal Public School and Corrimal High School. He is the son of former

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 ...

player and administrator Don Tweddle Sr. It was rumoured that as a young boy he developed a fear of the dark, a phobia he carried into adulthood.

Playing career

Tweddle's talent was quickly noticed and while still an adolescent was signed to a junior development deal with

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 ...

club the

Illawarra Steelers The Illawarra Steelers are an Australian rugby league football club based in the city of Wollongong, New South Wales. The club competed in Australia's top-level rugby league competition from 1982 until 1998. On 13 December 1980, they were the ...

. At the completion of the 1998 season the Illawarra club was forced to form a joint venture with the

St. George Dragons The St. George Dragons are an Australian rugby league, rugby league football club from the St George, Sydney, St George District in Sydney, New South Wales that played in the top level New South Wales Rugby League, New South Wales competition ...

and Tweddle's contract was not renewed with the newly formed entity, 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 ...

. After 3 seasons of playing for

in the Illawarra competition, Tweddle joined the

in 2002. After a full season in the lower grades, he made his first grade debut from the bench in his side's 36−32 loss to the

Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm is a rugby league football club based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia that participates in the National Rugby League (NRL). The club plays its home games at AAMI Park, and wears a purple and navy blu ...

Endeavour Field Endeavour Field, known colloquially as Shark Park or Sharks Stadium, is a rugby league stadium in the southern Sydney suburb of Woolooware, New South Wales, Australia. It is the home ground of the Cronulla-Sutherland Rugby League Club, which r ...

in round 1 of the 2003 season. He played only four more games of first grade, the last of which was in his side's 44−12 loss to 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 ...

at the

Leichhardt Oval Leichhardt Oval is a rugby league and soccer stadium in Lilyfield, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently one of three home grounds for the Wests Tigers National Rugby League (NRL) team, along with Campbelltown Stadium and Western Syd ...

in round 18 of the 2003 season. Tweddle was released by the Sharks at the end of the 2003 season, and subsequently never played first grade rugby league again.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tweddle, Don 1979 births Living people Australian rugby league players Corrimal Cougars players Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks players Rugby league players from Wollongong Rugby league props