Travis Norton (born 12 April 1976 in Redcliffe,

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 ...

) 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 1990s and 2000s. A Queensland State of Origin representative lock forward, he played his club football with the South Queensland Crushers, Canterbury-Bankstown and 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 ...

, whom he captained to the

2005 NRL Grand Final The 2005 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the National Rugby League's 2005 NRL season, 2005 Telstra Premiership season. It was played on the night of Sunday, 2 October at Sydney's Telstra Stadium between the W ...

Background

Norton played his junior rugby league for the Moranbah Miners.

Playing career

Norton made his first grade debut for South Queensland against 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 ...

in round 1 of the 1995 ARL season at Lang Park. Norton departed South Queensland at the end of 1996 after the club finished with the

Wooden Spoon A wooden spoon is a Kitchen utensil, utensil commonly used in food preparation. In addition to its culinary uses, wooden spoons also feature in folk art and culture. History The word ''spoon'' derives from an ancient word meaning a chip of woo ...

. In 1997, Norton joined Canterbury who had aligned themselves with the rival

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 ...

competition. In the

1998 NRL season The 1998 NRL season was the 91st season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the inaugural season of the newly formed National Rugby League (NRL). After the 1997 season, in which the Australian Rugby League and Super League (Au ...

, Norton played 29 games as Canterbury finished 9th on the table and qualified for the finals. Canterbury proceeded to make the 1998 NRL Grand Final after winning 4 sudden death elimination matches in a row including the club's famous preliminary final victory over rivals

Parramatta Parramatta (; ) is a suburb (Australia), suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney. Parramatta is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, on the banks of the Parramatta River. It is co ...

which is considered to be one of the greatest comebacks of all time. After being 18-2 down with less than 10 minutes remaining, Canterbury scored 3 tries to take the game into extra-time before winning the match 32–20. The following week, he played at lock forward for Canterbury in their loss at the 1998 NRL grand final 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 ...

. Norton played with Canterbury until the end of 2003, when salary cap issues saw him leave the club to join the

. Norton captained the Cowboys from 2004–06, leading them to the

which they lost to the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers is an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West of Sydney and South Western Sydney. The Tigers have competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since being formed at the end of the 1999 N ...

, with Norton scoring a try. That year, he was joined at the Cowboys by fellow ex-Bulldogs teammate Johnathan Thurston. Norton retired at the end of the 2006 NRL season.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Norton, Travis 1976 births Living people Australian rugby league players North Queensland Cowboys players Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players People from South East Queensland Queensland Rugby League State of Origin players Rugby league locks Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league players from Queensland South Queensland Crushers players 20th-century Australian sportsmen