Shannon Hegarty (born 14 June 1979) 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 2000s. An Australia international and Queensland State of Origin representative three-quarter back, he played club football 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 ...

for 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 ...

(with whom he won the 2002 NRL Premiership),

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 ...

and

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 ...

Playing career

Originally from

Brisbane, Queensland Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, Hegarty played for the

at centre in their 2000 NRL Grand 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 ...

. Hegarty scored the Roosters' first try in their win over the Warriors in the 2002 NRL grand final and went on to victory in England for the resulting

2003 World Club Challenge The 2003 World Club Challenge match was contested on Sunday, 16 February by National Rugby League season 2002 premiers, the Sydney Roosters and Super League VII premiers, St Helens R.F.C., St. Helens. 19,807 spectators turned out at Bolton's Reebo ...

. He was then selected to play on the wing for Queensland in every match of the 2003 State of Origin series. Hegarty scored a try whilst playing in the centres for the Roosters in their loss to Penrith in the 2003 NRL grand final. After that he was selected to go on the 2003 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France, helping Australia to victory over

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

in what would be the last time the two nations contested an Ashes series. Hegarty played for the Roosters on the wing in their 2004 NRL Grand final loss to cross-Sydney rivals, Canterbury-Bankstown. In 2005, Hegarty joined the

arch rivals South Sydney. In his first season at Souths the club finished 13th on the table. In the

2006 NRL season The 2006 NRL season was the 99th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the ninth run by the National Rugby League. The lineup of teams remained unchanged from the previous year, with fifteen clubs competing for the 2006 Te ...

, Hegarty made 10 appearances as the club finished last on the table. In the

2007 NRL season The 2007 NRL season was the one hundredth season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the tenth run by the National Rugby League. Sixteen teams contested the NRL's 2007 Telstra Premiership, and with the inclusi ...

, Hegarty was part of the Souths team which reached the finals for the first time since 1989. Released from the final year of his playing contract with South Sydney on a mutual agreement, Hegarty signed with the

two days later.

Post playing

Off the field, Hegarty posed for the ''Gods Of Football'' charity calendar in 2009 and appeared as Benji Veniamin in '' Tough Nuts: Australia's Hardest Criminals'' in 2011. He was a trainer and conditioning coach for the Jacksonville Axemen of the

USA Rugby League The USA Rugby League (formally the US Association of Rugby League, Inc.) is the national governing body for rugby league in the United States. The organization is responsible for running the domestic club competitions and the United State ...

. He currently owns and operates Down Under Fitness gym & personal training in Jacksonville Beach, FL.

References

External links

State of Origin Official website Rugby League Player Stats
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hegarty, Shannon 1979 births Australian rugby league players Indigenous Australian rugby league players Australia national rugby league team players North Queensland Cowboys players South Sydney Rabbitohs players North Sydney Bears NSW Cup players Sydney Roosters players Queensland Rugby League State of Origin players Prime Minister's XIII players Jacksonville Axemen players Rugby league wingers Rugby league centres Australian expatriate rugby league players Expatriate rugby league players in the United States Australian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Living people Rugby league players from Brisbane