Steve Waddell (1966−2012) was 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 1980s and 1990s. He played for the

Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith that competes in the NRL. The team is based west of the centre of Sydney, at the foot of the Blue Mountains. Penri ...

and

Illawarra Steelers The Illawarra Steelers are an Australian rugby league football club based in the city of Wollongong, New South Wales. The club competed in Australia's top-level rugby league competition from 1982 NSWRFL season, 1982 until 1998 NRL season, 1998 ...

in the NSWRL/ARL/Super League (Australia) competitions.

Background

Waddell is the father of current

NRL 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 ...

player

Corey Waddell Corey Waddell (born 2 October 1996) is a professional rugby league footballer who plays as a forward for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the NRL. He previously played for the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles in the National Rugby League. Back ...

Playing career

Waddell was a Lithgow junior who was signed by Penrith in 1987. He made his first grade debut for the Penrith in round 14 of the

1988 NSWRL season The 1988 NSWRL season was the 81st season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and saw the first expansion of the New South Wales Rugby League Premiership outside the borders of New South Wales, and another expansion outside of Syd ...

, coming off the interchange bench against

St. George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...

Belmore Sports Ground Belmore Sports Ground, formerly known as Belmore Oval, is a multi-purpose stadium in Belmore, New South Wales, Australia. The park covers and from 1951 has contained the Belmore Bowling Recreation Club green. It is close to Belmore railway ...

. He would make 17 appearances over the next four seasons before leaving Penrith at the end of 1991 and signing with the

. In Waddell's first season at Illawarra, the club reached the finals for the first time in their history. Waddell played in all three matches including the preliminary final where they lost to St. George. For his efforts, Waddell was named Illawarra's player of the year. After a further two years at Illawarra, Waddell returned to Penrith. He would be a more regular contributor to the Penrith forward pack in his second stint, making 16 appearances in 1995 and a further 13 in 1996, most of them in the front row. However, he would be restricted to just three appearances in 1997 and would leave the club at season’s end.

References

1966 births 2012 deaths Penrith Panthers players Illawarra Steelers players Australian rugby league players Rugby league props Rugby league players from Lithgow, New South Wales {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1990s-stub