Billy Moore (rugby league)

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Billy Moore
Personal information
Full name Billy Moore
Place of birth Tenterfield, New South Wales, Australia
Weight 95 kg
Senior clubs*
Years Club Apps (points)
1989–1999 North Sydney 212 (136)
Representative teams
1992–1997
1995–1997		 Queensland
Australia		 017 (4)
003 (0)

* Professional club appearances and points
counted for domestic first grade only.

Billy Moore (born Tenterfield, New South Wales) is an Australian former rugby league footballer. Usually playing at lock, he represented Queensland and Australia and in the year 2000 received the Australian Sports Medal for his contribution to Australia's international standing in rugby league.

Australia 1995-97: 3 Tests (0pts)
Queensland 1992-97: 17 games – 1t (4pts)
North Sydney 1989-99: 212 games - 33t (132pts)

Moore represented New South Wales under-17s while in high school at Tenterfield. He moved to the North Sydney Bears in 1989 and played in the club's reserve grade premiership side. With a radical change of the guard the following year, Moore and a number of other players (ncluding long-time back-row partner David Fairleigh) became regular first graders the following year and propelled the club from also-rans in 1989 to finalists in 1991. Although Moore damaged a jaw at the start of that year, he played superbly in the first semi-final win by the Bears for 39 years against Manly, scoring two tries. Moore was first selected in Queensland's State of Origin side in 1992. Moore was the sole try-scorer in the Maroons' 5-4 win in the second match of the series at Lang Park.

Moore was a regular selection for the maroon jersey for three seasons and became part of State of Origin folklore by calling out ‘Queenslander! Queenslander!’ to motivate an underdog Maroons team in 1995. Against all odds, the young Queenslanders won the series without its star Super League players. While Moore was initially overlooked for Test duty against New Zealand, he won a place in Australia’s World Cup squad at the end of the year. He made one Test appearance in the competition, against South Africa, before playing Tests against Fiji (1996) and Rest of the World (1997) in consecutive years.

Moore's value for Norths can be measured by the fact that the club failed to fire in the 1994 final against the Canberra Raiders after he was forced to leave the field with concussion. He continued to play tirelessly for his club in subsequent semi-final campaigns but his representative career ended when he was left out of the Queensland team for the 1998 series. At the end of 1999, Moore failed to secure a contract with the merged Northern Eagles club and reluctantly retired. In 2000 he was awarded the Australian Sports Medal for his contribution to Australia's international standing in rugby legaue.

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