Riley Brown (born 15 October 1984) 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 last played for 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

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 ...

(NRL). He primarily played as a Hooker.

Background

Brown was born in

Bundaberg Bundaberg () is the major regional city in the Wide Bay-Burnett region of the state of Queensland, Australia. It is the List of cities in Australia by population, ninth largest city in the state. The Bundaberg central business district is situa ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. He was raised in the town of

Singleton, New South Wales Singleton is a town on the banks of the Hunter River (New South Wales), Hunter River in New South Wales, Australia. Singleton is 202km (126 mi) north-north-west of Sydney, and 70 km (43 mi) north-west of Newcastle, New South Wales ...

where, at 17 years of age, he represented Singleton Greyhounds at first team level.

Playing career

Brown made his NRL debut on 4 April 2004, for 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 ...

against 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 ...

WIN Stadium Wollongong Showground, known as WIN Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium located in Wollongong, Australia. The stadium was officially opened in 1911. From 1982 until 1998 it played host to every home match for the Illawa ...

. Brown made seven appearances for Newcastle the following season as the club finished last on the table claiming the wooden spoon. After playing 40 games for the Newcastle club, Brown was told to look elsewhere after coach Brian Smith's clean-out midway through the 2007 season. Brown was signed by the

Sydney Roosters Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...

for the 2008 season. In his first game for the Sydney Roosters, Brown infamously injured South Sydney player

Craig Wing Craig Wing (born 26 December 1979), also known by the nickname of "Wingy", is an Australian-born former professional rugby league and rugby union footballer. He began his career in rugby league, playing for the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the S ...

in the 8th minute of the match with a shoulder charge into Wing's back while Wing was being held up by two other players. Brown was not charged over the incident. Brown broke his arm in the Roosters' 2008 qualifying final loss to 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 ...

. He did not return to first grade until round 21 of the 2009 NRL season. Brown made a total of six appearances in 2009 as the

had a horrid season on the field finishing with the wooden spoon. Brown joined the

in 2010. Brown's last game in first grade was a 16–12 loss against Manly in Round 10 2011. At the end of 2011, Brown was released from the club as the Gold Coast finished with the wooden spoon. It was the players third wooden spoon in his career. After leaving the NRL, Brown played for the Cessnock Goannas, South Newcastle and Central Newcastle.

Personal life

On 2 June 2000, Brown's mother Judith was murdered in her Anna Bay home. Brown's father, Ross, was convicted of the crime but Brown believes that his father is innocent.

References

External links

NRL profile

Sydney Roosters Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Riley 1984 births Living people Australian rugby league players Cessnock Goannas players Gold Coast Titans players New South Wales Residents rugby league team players Newcastle Knights players Sportspeople from Singleton, New South Wales Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league hookers Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Bundaberg Rugby league second-rows Sydney Roosters players 21st-century Australian sportsmen