Glenn Lazarus

Glenn Lazarus
Senator elect for Queensland
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 July 2014
Personal details
Born	(1965-12-11) 11 December 1965 Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Palmer United Party
Occupation	Politician
Profession	Rugby league footballer

Glenn Patrick Lazarus (born 11 December 1965 in Queanbeyan, New South Wales) is an Australian Senator-elect and former rugby league footballer of the 1980s and 90s who has been named amongst the nation's finest of the 20th century. He primarily played at prop forward, representing Australia internationally and New South Wales in State of Origin. Lazarus became the first player win grand finals with three different clubs during his career:^[2] the Canberra Raiders, Brisbane Broncos and Melbourne Storm. Also known as 'the brick with eyes', he was, at his peak, widely-regarded as the best front-row forward in the game - a sentiment shared by current NSW State of Origin coach Ricky Stuart who labelled him "the best front-rower ever to play the game of rugby league."^[3] His nephew Blake Lazarus plays for the Wests Tigers in the NRL.^[4]

Rugby league career

Canberra

Lazarus began his first grade career with the Canberra Raiders in 1987, and although he would be overlooked for a spot in the Raiders' losing grand final side against the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles that year, he was selected to make his debut for New South Wales in the 1989 State of Origin series. Lazarus would go on to play a starring role in the club's victory over the Balmain Tigers in the 1989 NSWRL season's Grand final. In the post season he travelled with the Raiders to England for the 1989 World Club Challenge which was lost to Widnes.

Lazarus played in the Raiders' victory over the Penrith Panthers in the 1990 NSWRL season's Grand final. At the end of the 1990 NSWRL season, he went on the 1990 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France. He also played for Canberra in their grand final loss to Penrith in 1991.

Brisbane

In the summer before preceding the 1992 season, Lazarus was recruited from Canberra by his former coach at the Raiders, Wayne Bennett^[5] and joined the Brisbane Broncos, with whom he would play the largest portion of his career. During the 1992 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand, he helped Australia retain The Ashes. He played for the Broncos at prop forward in the 1992 NSWRL season's grand final victory over the St. George Dragons. In the weeks following the 1992 grand final Lazarus travelled with the Broncos to England, where he played at prop forward in the 1992 World Club Challenge against British champions Wigan, helping Brisbane become the first NSWRL club to win the match in Britain. Lazarus then played for Australia at prop forward in the World Cup final victory over Great Britain at Wembley Stadium.

Lazarus played for the Broncos at prop forward in the 1993 NSWRL season's grand final victory again over the St. George Dragons. This constituted a remarkable feat of playing in five consecutive grand finals.^[6] During the 1994 NSWRL season, Lazarus played at prop forward for defending premiers Brisbane when they hosted British champions Wigan for the 1994 World Club Challenge and lost. He was selected to go on the 1994 Kangaroo Tour, although his appearances were restricted due to injuries. It was only a broken leg suffered during a 1997 World Club Championship match that prevented Lazarus from also playing in that year's Super League Grand Final-winning Brisbane side.

Melbourne

After not being retained by Brisbane, Lazarus was recruited to the newly established Melbourne Storm by his former CEO (John Ribot) and teammate (Chris Johns) from the Broncos, both then working in the Storm's administration, for the National Rugby League's inaugural season in 1998. He was named as the club's first captain and was also given a newspaper column to write in The Herald Sun.^[7] He went on lead the Melbourne Storm at prop forward in their 1999 NRL Grand Final victory. Lazarus announced his retirement from the game with five premierships for three different clubs (Canberra 1989–90, Brisbane 1992–93 and Melbourne 1999), a truly unique achievement.

He was, at the time of his retirement, the equal ninth most capped New South Wales State of Origin player (with Benny Elias and Michael O'Connor) and was second only to Paul Harragon as the most capped New South Wales.^[8]

Post playing

In 2000, Lazarus was awarded the Australian Sports Medal for his contribution to Australia's international standing in the sport of rugby league.^[9] In 2003 Lazarus was one of the first four former players inducted into the Broncos official Hall of Fame.^[10] In 2005, the western grandstand of Olympic Park Stadium was named the Glenn Lazarus stand in his honour.^[11] Lazarus spent time on the Brisbane Broncos coaching staff until a major cleanout by head coach Wayne Bennett at the end of 2005 saw him removed.^[12]

During the 2007 season at the Broncos' 20-year anniversary celebration, the club announced a list of the 20 best players to play for them to date which included Lazarus.^[13]

For the Storm's tenth year, Lazarus was named captain of the decade. ^{[citation needed]}

In February 2008, Lazarus was named in the list of Australia's 100 Greatest Players (1908–2007) which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia.^[14] Lazarus has been 612 ABC Brisbane Breakfast rugby league tipster since 2008. In 2008 New South Wales announced their rugby league team of the century, naming Lazarus at prop.^[15]

At the end of the 2008 Queensland Cup season, Lazarus, who served as assistant coach at the Ipswich Jets club under the departing Kevin Walters was named as head coach of the club from the 2009 season. In 2010, Glenn stepped down from the role to pursue business interests. ^{[citation needed]}

Political career

In 2013, Lazarus was selected to head the Palmer United Party (PUP) senate ticket in Queensland at the 2013 Australian Federal Election. The ABC predicts that when counting is complete he will be elected, after the PUP won about 10% of the Senate vote in Queensland.^[16]

References

External links

• Glenn Lazarus at stateoforigin.com.au