Luke Archibald Douglas (born 12 May 1986) is a

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

international

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 playes as a for

Lower Clarence Magpies The Lower Clarence Magpies are an Australian rugby league football club based in Yamba, New South Wales. The club was founded as Maclean in 1915, later becoming Lower River. They rebranded again as Lower Clarence when they joined the newly form ...

in the NRRRL. Douglas 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 ...

and the

Gold Coast Titans The Gold Coast Titans are a professional rugby league football club, based on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership, Australia's elite rugby league competition. Since 2008, the ...

in 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 ...

from 2006 to 2016. He also played for St Helens 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 ...

in 2017 and 2018, and on loan from the St. Helens at the

Leigh Centurions The Leigh Leopards are a professional rugby league club based in Leigh, Greater Manchester, England. Leigh play homes games at Leigh Sports Village and compete in Super League, the top tier of British rugby league system, British rugby league. ...

in the 2019

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

, after which he retired from the sport. Through ancestral eligibility, he represented Scotland at the 2013 World Cup,

2016 Four Nations The 2016 Rugby League Four Nations tournament (known as the 2016 Ladbrokes Four Nations, for sponsorship purposes) was the fifth staging of the Rugby League Four Nations tournament and was played in England in October and November. The series was c ...

and the 2017 World Cup.

Early career

Douglas was born in

Yamba, New South Wales Yamba is a town in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia, located at the mouth of the Clarence River. The town economy is strongly based on fishing and tourism, but has a diverse range of influences, due to the 'Sea Change' ...

, Australia to parents Archibald Christopher (Chris) and Patricia (Trish) Douglas. He is of Scottish descent through his paternal grandfather, Archibald, who moved from

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

Maclean, New South Wales Maclean is a town in Clarence Valley Council, Clarence Valley Local government in Australia, local government area in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia. It is on the Clarence River (New South Wales), Clarence River and ne ...

. Douglas' brother is

Australian rugby union Rugby Australia Ltd, previously named Australian Rugby Union Limited and Australian Rugby Football Union Limited, is an Australian company operating the premier rugby union competition in Australia and teams. It has its origins in 1949. It is a ...

representative Kane Douglas. Douglas played junior rugby league for the Yamba Eagles and Lower Clarence Magpies.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks

Douglas made his first-grade debut for Cronulla in its season-opener against the

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 ...

in round 2, 2006. In 2007, Douglas was selected for Country Origin but withdrew by claiming “injury” at the request of his club coach, Ricky Stuart. Controversially, Douglas then played 24 hours later for

Cronulla Cronulla is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Boasting numerous surf beaches and swimming spots, the suburb attracts both tourists and Greater Sydney residents. Cronulla is 26 kilometres south of the Sydney central ...

. In 2010, he was picked as 18th man for the New South Wales State of Origin team for the third match of the series, but he didn't play. He later played the only domestic representative match of his career for Country Origin in 2012. Between his first grade debut in round 2, 2006 and round 23, 2014, inclusive, he never missed a first-grade match through injury or suspension. His run of 215 games straight is the NRL record for most consecutive appearances, and the most from debut. He surpassed the previous record of 194, held by Jason Taylor, on 10 March 2014 against his former club,

. His coach, John Cartwright, said his record was "remarkable, especially playing in the front row - he plays pretty big minutes as well." On 20 April 2011, it was announced that Douglas had signed a three-year contract with the

. Douglas’s unbroken streak of NRL matches since came to an end in August 2014 when he was one of several past and present Sharks players to accept a year-long ban, backdated to 21 November 2013, as part of ASADA's investigation into the club's controversial supplements program.

Gold Coast Titans

After four turbulent years at the Titans, during which the club failed to qualify for the finals and was rocked by numerous scandals, Douglas departed the Gold Coast and signed a three-year deal with

club

St Helens R.F.C. St Helens R.F.C., commonly known as Saints, is a professional rugby league club in St Helens, Merseyside, England. Founded in 1873, the club is one of the oldest members of the Rugby Football League, and one of the most successful clubs in its ...

St Helens

On 25 January 2019, it was confirmed that St Helens had an agreed a one-month loan deal with

Leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan ** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency) * Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Pronounced : * Leigh, Dorset * Leigh, Gloucestershire * Leigh, Kent * Leigh, Staffor ...

for Douglas.

References

External links

St Helens profile
*(archived by web.archive.org
SL profile2017 RLWC profileSaints Heritage Society profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Douglas, Luke 1986 births Living people Australian people of Scottish descent Australian rugby league players Australian sportspeople in doping cases Country New South Wales Origin rugby league team players Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks players Doping cases in Australian rugby league Doping cases in rugby league Gold Coast Titans players Leigh Leopards players Prime Minister's XIII players Rugby league props Rugby league second-rows Scotland national rugby league team captains Scotland national rugby league team players St Helens R.F.C. players People from Yamba, New South Wales 21st-century Australian sportsmen