Peter Louis (born 18 January 1945) 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 and coach. He played in the

New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership The New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the first rugby league football club competition established in Australia and contributor to today's National Rugby League. Run by the New South Wales Rugby League (initially named the New Sout ...

for Sydney's Canterbury-Bankstown club in the 1960s as well as in the country for

Woy Woy Woy Woy is a coastal town in the Central Coast region of the New South Wales state of Australia. The town is located on the southern reaches of Brisbane Water and near the mouth of Brisbane Water at the Pacific Ocean, it is a popular holiday de ...

's club. Louis then started coaching there before returning to Sydney, eventually becoming head coach of the

North Sydney Bears The North Sydney Bears are an Australian rugby league football club based in Cammeray on Sydney's North Shore (Sydney), North Shore. The club currently competes in the NSW Cup, having exited the National Rugby League following the 1999 NRL s ...

in the 1990s. After almost seven seasons he became 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 ...

referees' coach.

Playing career

Louis started his playing career in

before moving to Sydney and joining

NSWRFL premiership The New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the first rugby league football club competition established in Australia and contributor to today's National Rugby League. Run by the New South Wales Rugby League (initially named the New Sout ...

club,

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 ...

in 1968. He played mostly in reserve grade, with a handful of appearances in first grade during the

1969 NSWRFL season The 1969 New South Wales Rugby League premiership, New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the 62nd season of Sydney's professional rugby league football competition, Australia's first. Twelve teams, including six Sydney-based foun ...

. Part-way through the 1970 season Louis returned to Woy Woy where he was captain-coach. He guided the club to a first grade premiership.

Coaching career

Louis returned to Sydney and had success coaching in the

New South Wales Rugby Football League The New South Wales Rugby League Ltd (NSWRL) is an Australian rugby league football competition operator in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission.It was registered on 21 ...

's reserve grade for 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 ...

from 1984 to 1989 and the

from 1990. He replaced

Steve Martin Stephen Glenn Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American comedian, actor, writer, producer, and musician. Known for Steve Martin filmography, his work in comedy films, television, and #Discography, recording, he has received List of awards a ...

as head coach of North Sydney for the

1993 NSWRL season The 1993 NSWRL season (known as the 1993 Winfield Cup Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the eighty-sixth season of professional rugby league football in Australia. The New South Wales Rugby League's sixteen teams competed for the J. J. ...

. After falling just outside the top five play-off group in his first year, he helped the Bears come to within one win of the

minor premiership 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 etymolo ...

for the

1994 NSWRL season The 1994 NSWRL season (known as the 1994 Winfield Cup Premiership due to sponsorship from Winfield (cigarette), Winfield) was the eighty-seventh season of professional rugby league football in Australia. Sixteen clubs, including 14 from within th ...

and was named coach of the year at the

Dally M Awards The Dally M Awards are the official annual player awards for the National Rugby League competition. As well as honouring the player of the year, who received the Dally M Medal, awards are also given to the premier player in each position, the be ...

. Under Louis Norths then came within one match of the

1996 ARL season The 1996 ARL premiership (also known as the 1996 Optus Cup due to sponsorship from Optus) was the 89th season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the second to be administered by the Australian Rugby League (ARL). Twenty te ...

's grand final. The following season in 1997, Louis coached Norths to a 4th placed finish. North Sydney reached their 4th preliminary final in 7 years but once again fell short of an elusive grand final appearance losing to the

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league team based in Newcastle, New South Wales that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, the Knights joined the top-tier competition in New ...

. With less than 10 minutes to play, Norths had scored a try through Michael Buettner which gave captain Jason Taylor the chance to kick a goal which would give Norths a 14-12 lead. Taylor a normally reliable goal kicker missed the conversion. Newcastle then went on to kick a field goal and score a try right on the full time siren to win the match 17-12. Louis was appointed coach of City New South Wales for the

City vs Country Origin City vs Country Origin was an annual Australian rugby league football match that took place in New South Wales between City and Country representative sides. The City side represented the Sydney metropolitan area. While technically it was Syd ...

match of 1997 which Country won. Norths again reached the play-offs in the

1998 NRL season The 1998 NRL season was the 91st season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the inaugural season of the newly formed National Rugby League (NRL). After the 1997 season, in which the Australian Rugby League and Super League (Au ...

but were eliminated after losing to Parramatta and Canterbury-Bankstown in consecutive weeks. During the 1999 season, North Sydney's last in the NRL, he announced his retirement as head coach of the club, being succeeded by Kieran Dempsey. At the end of his coaching career with Norths, Louis had the second highest win percentage out of anyone who had coached the club before him except for 1921 & 1922 premiership winning coach

Chris McKivat Christopher Hobart McKivat (alternatively spelled McKivatt, pronounced ; 27 November 1880 − 4 May 1941) was an Australian rugby union and rugby league player – a dual-code rugby international. He represented the Wallabies in over 20 Tests ...

. At the end of the

1999 NRL season The 1999 NRL season was the 92nd season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the second to be run by the National Rugby League. With the exclusion of the Adelaide Rams and Gold Coast Chargers, and the joint venture of the S ...

Louis succeeded Michael Stone as NRL referees' coach. At the end of the

2002 NRL season 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 ...

he resigned from the position.

References

1945 births Living people Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league players Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players New South Wales City Origin rugby league team coaches North Sydney Bears coaches Place of birth missing (living people) Rugby league players from Woy Woy Rugby league second-rows 20th-century Australian sportsmen {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1940s-stub