Justin Loomans (born 22 May 1975) 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 1990s. He played for the

North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest city in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). Sinc ...

in their inaugural season and later played for 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 ...

. He primarily played on the or at .

Background

Born in

Rockhampton, Queensland Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. In the , the population of Rockhampton was 79,293. A common nickname for Rockhampton is "Rocky", and the demonym of Rockhampton is Rockhamptonite. The Scottish- ...

, Loomans is of

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

descent and attended

Rockhampton State High School Rockhampton State High School is a coeducational public secondary school located in Wandal, a suburb of Rockhampton in Queensland, Australia. The school has a total enrolment of more than 1000 students, with an official count of 1119 students i ...

. He was originally a

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...

scholarship holder, before being signed by the

in 1994.

Playing career

In Round 4 of the

1995 ARL season The 1995 ARL premiership was the 88th season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the first to be run by the Australian Rugby League following the hand-over of the Premiership's administration by the New South Wales Rugby Lea ...

, at age 19, Loomans made his first-grade debut for the Cowboys in an 8–14 loss to 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 ...

. He scored his first try a week later, in the Cowboys' 12–20 loss to the

. In Round 8, he played in the club's first-ever win, a 14–10 victory over 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 ...

. Loomans ended his first season as the Cowboys' equal top try scorer, scoring nine tries in 16 appearances. In 1996, Loomans was again the Cowboys' equal top try scorer, scoring eight tries in 21 appearances. In 1997, the Cowboys competed in the breakaway

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 ...

competition, with Loomans playing just seven games and scoring two tries. In 1998, Loomans moved to

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, joining the

. Over two seasons, he scored 12 tries in the 35 games for the struggling side including a try in Souths final match against Parramatta before the club was controversially axed from the competition. When the Rabbitohs were excluded from the

NRL 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 ...

at the end of the 1999 season, Loomans returned to Queensland to play in 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 ...

. He played for the

Easts Tigers The Brisbane Tigers are a rugby league club based at Langlands Park, in the suburb of Coorparoo in Brisbane, Australia. Since 1996, they have competed in the Queensland Cup, having competed in the Brisbane Rugby League premiership (rugby league ...

and his hometown club, the

Central Comets The Central Queensland Capras are a semi-professional rugby league football club primarily based in Rockhampton, Queensland and representing Central Queensland. They play in the Hostplus Cup in Queensland, which is a second-tier competition in ...

, scoring 39 tries for them.

Statistics

ARL/SL/NRL

Post-playing career

Following his retirement, Loomans became a mentor and trainer for the Central Queensland NRL bid's junior development program and Operations Manager of Central Queensland Indigenous Development.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Loomans, Justin 1975 births Living people Australian rugby league players Central Queensland Capras players Brisbane Tigers players Indigenous Australian rugby league players North Queensland Cowboys players Rugby league players from Rockhampton, Queensland Rugby league wingers South Sydney Rabbitohs players