Julian O'Neill
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Julian O'Neill (born 1972 in Hornsby, New South Wales) is an Australian former rugby league player. A talented fullback and goal-kicker, in 1994 and 1995 he was the Brisbane Broncos' top point-scorer. He enjoyed a 14 year top grade career with many clubs in Australia and England but regularly made headlines for reasons outside of his playing form.
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[edit] Early life
O'Neill's mother, Annabelle O'Neill, a nursing sister was killed in a car crash when he was six. His father Brian Allan O'Neill, a gynaecologist, died of heart disease when Julian was seven.
O'Neill was raised by his grandparents and other family members. From age ten he attended boarding school at St Brendan's College in Yeppoon, Queensland.
[edit] Football career
O'Neill was a prodiguous young sportsman, holding school records in athletics and swimming. He represented as an Australian Schoolboy in both rugby league and cricket. He was signed to a sporting scholarship with the Brisbane Broncos at age fifteen.
[edit] Club
He was graded by the Broncos in 1991 and it was hoped he would take over the five-eighth position from Broncos great Wally Lewis. He showed greater form at fullback and played there in Brisbane's inaugural Grand Final victory in 1992 and then the following year when they again beat St. George for the premiership title.
He left the Broncos in 1995 and subsequently played club football with the London Broncos, the Western Reds, the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the North Queensland Cowboys before later returning to England to play out the rest of his career.
[edit] Representative
He first represented Queensland off the interchange bench in game II of the 1993 State of Origin series. He played at five-eighth in game III and then at fullback in all three games of the 1994 series under coach Wally Lewis. He made further appearances in 1996, 1997 and 2000 for 10 career State of Origin appearances. He was playing for the Super League aligned Western Reds during the 1997 split year and made one state and one national representative appearance for the Super League representative teams.
[edit] England
He played English rugby league with Wigan from 2002. In 2004 he had a season playing rugby union in France. He returned to rugby league in England in 2005 and played half the season with the Wakefield Trinity Wildcats, then switching to the Widnes Vikings.
[edit] Statistics
Australia (SL) 1997: 1 Test (0 pts)
Queensland (SOO) 1993-94, 1996-97 & 2000: 7 games (3 repl) – 2t, 9g (26 pts)
Queensland (SL) 1997: 1 game (0 pts)
Brisbane Broncos 1991-95: 95 games (10 repl) - 33t, 169g, 10fg (480 pts)
Western Reds 1996-97: 25 games (1 repl) – 12t, 63g, 4fg (178 pts)
South Sydney Rabbitohs 1998-99: 38 games (2 repl) – 9t, 80g (196 pts)
North Queensland Cowboys 2000-01: 47 games – 14t, 122g (300 pts)
Wigan Warriors 2002-200X: X games - Xt, Xg (Xpts)
London Broncos 1996-XXXX: X games - Xt, Xg (Xpts)
Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 2005: 12 games - 2t, 0g (8 pts)
Widnes Vikings 2005: 12 games - 1t, 0g (4pts)
[edit] Trouble outside football
As his fame and confidence grew at the Broncos, O'Neill found himself at the centre of a handful of alcohol fuelled incidents. At Southport Magistrates Court in 1995 he faced five charges following an incident at Jupiters Casino. He was found not guilty, the charges dropped and he was awarded costs.
After being released by the Brisbane Broncos he played a season with the London Broncos but was released after a drink driving offence.
For a time he was engaged to Australian swimming star Samantha Riley.
He made a fresh start at the Western Reds in 1996 but was released in 1997 after being fined and disqualified from driving in 1997 in Perth's Magistrates Court.
He made another clean start at the South Sydney Rabbitohs in 1998 but suffered immense publicity and a $10,000 fine from the club over a 1999 pre-season tour incident where a Dubbo Motel room was damaged. This incident became known as "the poo in the shoe" affair.
In 2001, O'Neill's 13 month-old daughter Piper was killed when a television set fell on to her at the family home.
In 2004 on a trip to Australia with the Widnes club he was accused of attempting to set fire to a foam rubber dolphin mascot suit worn by a 13-year-old on a river cruise in Port Macquarie. O'Neill stripped to his underwear following the incident, dived into the Hastings River and swam to shore. [1].
[edit] Sources and Footnotes
- ABC Online. Transcript of 1999 Australian Story article. http://www.abc.net/austory/series4
[edit] External Links
- Player Details at stateoforigin.com.au
- How Julian O'Neill got his Name Back
- Article at smh.com.au
- European Super League Stats at rleague.com
- News Article
| Brisbane Broncos |
|---|
| The Club Representatives • History • Records • Honours • Players • Venues |
| Seasons 1988 • 1989 • 1990 • 1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 1998 • 1999 • 2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2007 |
| Stadiums Lang Park/Suncorp Stadium • ANZ Stadium |
| Captains Wally Lewis (1988-1989) • Gene Miles (1990-1991) • Allan Langer (1992-1999) Kevin Walters (1999-2000) • Gorden Tallis (2001-2004) • Darren Lockyer (2005-present) |
| Coaches Wayne Bennett (1988-present) |
