Reece Simmonds (born 7 January 1980) is an Australian former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. He was born in Sydney, and played in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

(NRL) for the

St George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George, Sydney, St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since NR ...

(2002–2006; 2011) and the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian rugby league club based in Redfern, New South Wales, Redfern, a suburb of inner-southern Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and are ...

(2007).

Playing career

An Eagle Vale St Andrews junior, Simmonds worked as a greyhound handler before he made his debut with St George Illawarra in the opening round of the 2002 season. He played 14 games at fullback in 2002 and 2003. 2004 was Simmonds best year. Switching to the he made 23 appearances and scored 14 tries. However, the next two seasons with the Dragons were less successful. In 2007, Simmonds joined the

in the

competition, but played in just 7 games that season. At the end of the 2007 season, Simmonds played for South Sydney's feeder club side, the

North Sydney Bears The North Sydney Bears is an Australian rugby league football club based in North Sydney, New South Wales. The club competes in the New South Wales Cup, having exited the National Rugby League following the 1999 NRL season after 90 years in the ...

in their

NSW Cup The NSW Cup, currently known as the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. The competition has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserv ...

grand final against Parramatta at

Stadium Australia Stadium Australia, currently known as Accor Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Sydney Olympic Park, in Sydney, Australia. The stadium, which in Australia is sometimes referred to as Sydney Olympic Sta ...

. Simmonds scored a try with 15 minutes left before Joe Williams kicked a field goal with 3 minutes remaining to make the score 15–14. Norths then lost the grand final in the last 20 seconds of the game after Parramatta player Weller Hauraki crossed over for the match winning try. From 2008 to 2010, Simmonds worked as a coal-miner and played in the lower-tier based rugby league competitions, with Collegians in Wollongong and Wests Illawarra. He retired in 2010 after breaking his leg for a second time, but was persuaded to return to playing, winning a local premiership for Wests. He was also captain of Illawarra Division in the NSW CRL Championships. In 2011, Simmonds was called into the Dragons' NRL team to help compensate for nine players out due to injuries and

origin Origin(s) or The Origin may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics and manga * ''Origin'' (comics), a Wolverine comic book mini-series published by Marvel Comics in 2002 * ''The Origin'' (Buffy comic), a 1999 ''Buffy the Vampire Sl ...

commitments. He returned to retirement at the end of the season to coach the Wests Red Devils in the Illawarra League.

References

External links

NRL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simmonds, Reece 1980 births Australian rugby league players St. George Illawarra Dragons players South Sydney Rabbitohs players North Sydney Bears NSW Cup players Rugby league wingers Rugby league fullbacks Living people Rugby league players from Sydney