Bryan Fletcher

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For Bryan Fletcher, the NFL tight end, see Bryan J. Fletcher.

Bryan Fletcher (born April 12, 1974 in Sydney, NSW) is former rugby league player.

[edit] Sydney Roosters & Australia

Bryan started his career at Sydney Roosters making a total of 125 appearances for the red, white and blue. Fletcher began his career in the second row in 1997 and soon gained a cult hero status in Bondi Junction after some superb appearances for the club. This led to Fletcher being called up to the Kangaroo's squad in 1999 despite only 24 first grade appearances in the NRL. Over the years Fletcher would gain 8 caps for the Australian national side and also play 14 games for NSW in the State of Origin test matches.

One of the highlights of Fletcher's career was in the 2000 season when he led the Roosters to there first Grand Final appearance in 20 years as well as helping Australia inflict a humiliating defeat on the New Zealand national team 52-0 as well as a 3-0 whitewash of Queensland in the State of Origin series.

Fletcher achieved even more success in the 2002 season with a Grand Final victory with the Rooster's in what was Fletchers final appearance for the club before moving to rivals the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

[edit] South Sydney

In 2002 Fletcher left the Roosters and moved to perennial strugglers the South Sydney Rabbitohs. Fletcher was soon installed as the club's captain after signing due to his pedigree but that was stripped from him after an altercation on the pitch with Parramatta Eels player Dean Widders in which Fletcher made a racially based comment towards Widders.

He later apologised for the event, saying: “I apologise unreservedly for comments that I made to Dean Widders in yesterday’s game, “The comments were totally unacceptable and for that I am sorry.

“My actions have set a very poor example for kids who follow Rugby League and these types of comments cannot be tolerated in our game.“^[1]

[edit] Wigan Warriors

Before the scandal that led to Fletcher being stripped of his captaincy, banned for 1 game and fined AUS$10,000 he had agreed to a move to England to play for Super League outfit Wigan Warriors after two years at Souths. Fletcher joined the Wigan club in 2006 in time for the pre season training but was sidelined for the opening four rounds of Super League after needing emergency Bowel Surgery in early January.

Fletcher's debut came against Warrington Wolves on the 10th March, 2006 and made an instant impact as a substitute scoring his first try three minutes into his first appearance. He was one of the stalwarts that helped Wigan through one of the most tumultuous times in the clubs history on and off the field in 2006 with the dismissal of Ian Millward as head coach, the low morale within the team and seeing the once feared Wigan club sitting at the bottom of the table. Thanks to Fletcher's impact in the second row and the prop positions Wigan managed the seemingly impossible and survived relegation from the Super League, finishing 7th and just missing a playoff place to local rivals Warrington Wolves.

Fletcher has begun pre season training with Wigan for the 2007 season and played in the clubs first friendly over the weekend against Huddersfield Giants in which Wigan lost 24-22.

[edit] Career highlights

• Junior Club: Paddington Colts
• Career Stats: 170 career games to date scoring 36 tries

[edit] Representative games

• City: Played two games for City
• State Of Origin: Played 14 games in total for New South Wales
• International: Played 8 tests in total including the 2000 World Cup

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Bryan Fletcher NRL Player Profile
• State of Origin Official website Rugby League Player Stats
• Bryan Fletcher Souths Profile