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Timothy Brasher (born 16 March 1971) is an Australian former
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 primarily played as a in the 1990s and 2000s. He began his career with the
Balmain Tigers The Balmain Tigers (also known as the Sydney Tigers from 1995 to 1996) are a rugby league club based in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Balmain, New South Wales, Balmain. They were a founding member of the New South Wales Rugby League and on ...
, where he played the majority of his career. He then moved to the
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 ...
for two seasons, before finishing his career with a season at the
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 ...
. During his career, he also represented
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
on 21 occasions and
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
on 16 occasions.


Balmain

While attending Grantham High School in Seven Hills in Sydney, Brasher played for the Australian Schoolboys team in 1988. In 1989
Balmain Tigers The Balmain Tigers (also known as the Sydney Tigers from 1995 to 1996) are a rugby league club based in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Balmain, New South Wales, Balmain. They were a founding member of the New South Wales Rugby League and on ...
coach Warren Ryan called up Brasher, still in high school, to make his first grade debut. Balmain reached the Grand Final that year, Brasher played in the centres, but they lost to the
Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugb ...
19–14. During the 1992 season, Brasher played most of the season on the wing, and he was the joint top try-scorer in the premiership (along with Wests' Mark Bell) with 16 tries. In the post season, he was selected at fullback in Australia's 1992 Rugby League World Cup final 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 front of the world record attendance for an international rugby league match of 73,631 at
Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...
. At the end of the 1994 NSWRL season, he went on the 1994 Kangaroo tour. This was followed with selection for the 1995 World Cup, with again only ARL players selected. After losing the opening game of the tournament against
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
at Wembley, Australia reached the final, again playing England, after a 30-20 Semi-final win over New Zealand that went into overtime after the scores were locked up at 20-all after 80 minutes. On 28 October 1995 at Wembley Stadium, Australia won their 4th straight World Cup with a 16–8 win, with Brasher contributing the winning try in front of 66,540 fans. 1996 however was perhaps Brasher's finest year. Some considered him to be the best player in the world at this time. Brasher single-handedly carried a very weak Tigers side to within one win of a finals berth that year, and his Origin and Kangaroo performances continued to be exceptional. After the
Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...
had become defunct and the reunification of the game had occurred in 1998, Brasher's hesitation over his future with the Tigers resulted in the club terminating negotiations, and he was forced to find a new club. He knocked back an offer of $500,000 p.a., only to then change his mind but find that the offer had been withdrawn not long after the dead line.
SBFs Podcast: Stories With Tim Brasher Brasher was in talks with the Canberra Raiders, but after talks with the club stalled, it was announced that Brasher had signed for the
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 ...
. Brasher enjoyed a very successful career with the Tigers playing in 185 games, which included 182 starts and 3 replacement appearances, and scoring 538 points, which included 82 tries and 105 goals. Brasher was named on the bench in the official Balmain Tigers ''Team of the Century''.


South Sydney

In total, he played two seasons for the Rabbitohs where he made 40 appearances and scored 14 tries, totaling 56 points. After the club was South Sydney Rabbitohs#The troubled 1990.27s and exclusion, excluded from the 2000 season, Brasher was forced to find another club, and joined the
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 ...
.


North Queensland

Brasher moved to the
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 ...
in 2000, and was appointed captain in his first season with the club, in which he made 16 appearances, scoring four tries, and being voted ''Players Player of the Year''. However, after the 2000 season had ended he was injured during the off-season, which ruled him out of the entire 2001 season. The career-ending injury was widely reported at the time as a knee injury as a result of Brasher falling from a chair cleaning a fan. However, it has since been discovered that the injury was the result of an accident that occurred during a trail biking adventure with former Cowboy's halfback Nathan Fien. Much speculation still exists as to why the Cowboys chose to conceal the events of Brasher's injury. He decided to retire due to the injury. Brasher did however make a very brief comeback (albeit to English Rugby Union) when he filled in for a depleted Bath side during the
2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup and was won by England national rugby union team, England. Originally planned to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispu ...
. Due to the attention that the World Cup drew in Australia, little attention was paid to this aspect of Brasher's career.


Representative career


New South Wales

In
1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...
, he was called up for the
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
State of Origin squad. His impressive display in the second half of the third and deciding game of the series saw him pull off two try saving tackles on Mark Coyne and
Mal Meninga Malcolm Norman Meninga (; born 8 July 1960) is an Australian professional rugby league coach and a former professional rugby league footballer. Meninga is widely regarded as one of the finest players in the game's history. He enjoyed a long ca ...
, as well as kicking two goals. In the 1993–94 season, he was again called up to the New South Wales squad. After moving to South Sydney, his impressive form in a struggling Rabbitohs squad again earned him a call-up to the State of Origin side in 1998. After signing for the North Queensland Cowboys, Brasher was again selected for the New South Wales side in 2000. In all he represented New South Wales in 21 appearances, which included 20 starts and one replacement appearance. In his 21 appearances he scored three tries and nine goals, with a total of 30 points.


Australia

After his impressive State of Origin performance, as well as being the 1992 seasons leading try scorer for Balmain (while playing on the wing), Brasher was selected as the
Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...
fullback in their 1992 World Cup final victory over
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in front of the world record attendance for an international rugby league match of 73,631 at
Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...
. Brasher beat out
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 ...
fullback Brad Godden for the vacant Australian fullback spot on the back of impressive big game displays in both the final State of Origin game that year, as well as with Balmain as an 18 year old in the 1989 Grand Final. Brasher, who had been moved to fullback at Balmain following Garry Jack's departure from the club, again impressed at fullback for NSW 1993, but lost his place in the Australian side to Queensland fullback Dale Shearer (a long-time favourite of Australian coach Bob Fulton) for the three game test series against
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
. Shearer's place in the Australian side wasn't disputed though after impressive displays for Qld in the final two games of the Origin series. The great form of
Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...
fullback Brett Mullins meant that Brasher, who again played fullback for NSW in the 1994 Origin series, could only make a place on the bench for his test debut against
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
at Parramatta Stadium in 1994, won 58-0 by the Kangaroos. At the end of the 1994 season he was selected as one of the fullbacks (along with Mullins) for the end of season Kangaroo Tour. Brasher played 15 games on tour (six as a substitute), scoring six tries and kicking eleven goals. Brasher was a substitute in the final Ashes test against Great Britain at
Elland Road Elland Road, or Elland Road Stadium, is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the Home (sports), home of Leeds United F.C., Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the List of foot ...
in
Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...
, as well as the test 74–0 win against France in
Béziers Béziers (; ) is a city in southern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Hérault Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region. Every August Béziers ho ...
, the final game of the tour. In 1995, Brasher finally made the Australian fullback spot his own and he was selected there for all three tests against New Zealand in the Trans-Tasman Test series (only ARL loyal players were selected, which saw only three players, Brasher,
Brad Fittler Bradley Scott Fittler (born 5 February 1972), also known by the nickname of "Freddy", is an Australian rugby league commentator, television presenter, and former player. Fittler captained both New South Wales rugby league team, New South Wales ...
and Rod Wishart retain their places from the 1994 Kangaroo Tour). This was followed with selection for the 1995 World Cup, with again only ARL players selected. With what many would label a 'second-string' team without the inclusion of the
Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...
players such as Laurie Daley, Bradley Clyde,
Allan Langer Allan Jeffrey "Alfie" Langer AM (born 30 July 1966) is an Australian former multi-award-winning rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s and worked as an assistant coach for the Australian national team, the Queenslan ...
and
Glenn Lazarus Glenn Patrick Lazarus (born 11 December 1965) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer, and a former Australian Senator. An Australian international and New South Wales State of Origin representative , Lazarus won premi ...
. After losing the opening game of the tournament against
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
at Wembley, Australia reached the final, again playing England, after a tense 30-20 Semi-final win over New Zealand that went into overtime after the scores were locked up at 20-all after 80 minutes. On 28 October 1995 at Wembley Stadium, Australia won their 4th straight World Cup with a 16–8 win, with Brasher contributing the winning try in front of 66,540 fans. Between 1996 and 1998, Brasher was selected a further five times, against
Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...
,
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...
(both 1996), Rest of the World (1997) and two Tests against New Zealand (1998). In total he represented his country on 16 occasions, scoring nine tries, totalling 36 points.


References


External links


State of Origin Official website Rugby League Player Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brasher, Tim 1971 births Living people Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league players Balmain Tigers players 20th-century Australian sportsmen New South Wales City Origin rugby league team players New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players North Queensland Cowboys players Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from Sydney South Sydney Rabbitohs players South Sydney Rabbitohs captains