John Eales

John Eales AM (born 27 June 1970) is an Australian former rugby union player and the most successful captain in the history of Australian rugby.

Early life

He attended Marist College, Ashgrove.^[1] In his youth, Eales was also a very talented cricket all-rounder, and played first grade cricket for Queensland University in the Brisbane QCA cricket competition.^[1] Eales completed a Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in psychology from the University of Queensland in 1991^[2][3] prior to taking to the international rugby stage.

Rugby career

Eales played lock for Queensland Reds and Australia. He was given the nickname "Nobody" because "Nobody's perfect".^[1]

Eales' 55-cap reign as captain marked an era of Australian success in world rugby. Eales played a major part in Australia's victories at the Rugby World Cup twice in his illustrious career, first in 1991, and later skippering his country to victory in 1999.^[1] he took over the captaincy from David Campese after playing 33 tests together.

Statistics

John Eales scored 173 points for Australia – 2 tries (one valued at 4, one at 5), 34 penalties & 31 conversions^[4] – a total which, as of April 2013, places him 12th on the all-time scoring list for Australia.^[5] He is the highest scoring forward in test rugby history and, as of April 2013, only one of six forwards to have surpassed 100 points in test rugby^[6] (the others being Jean Prat, Takashi Kikutani, Colin Charvis, Mamuka Gorgodze and Carlo Checchinato). This is largely because of his goal kicking, which is unusual for a forward; his two tries are unremarkable (in comparison, all of Checcinato's, Charvis's and McCaw's points have come from tries).^[6] His memorable kicks include a sideline penalty goal in the final minutes of a 2000 test to win the Bledisloe Cup against New Zealand.^{[citation needed]}

Eales captained Australia 55 times. Only Brian O'Driscoll, John Smit, Richie McCaw, Will Carling and George Gregan have been an international captain in more games than Eales.^[7] As of April 2013, Eales' 86 caps make him the third most capped forward in Australia's test rugby history,^[5] being recently surpassed by George Smith and Nathan Sharpe, and joint 7th on the overall list (level with Joe Roff, with George Gregan, Nathan Sharpe, George Smith, Stephen Larkham, David Campese, Matt Giteau and ahead of him).^[5]

Eales is one of only 21 players to have represented the Queensland Reds in 100 or more state games. He represented his state in 112 games.^[1] He scored a total of 402 points in the Super 12 competition with 6 tries, 66 conversions and 80 penalties for the Queensland Reds. No forward has scored more points than him in the competition's history.^[1]

He is one of a select group to have won the Rugby World Cup twice.^[1] The others are fellow Wallabies Dan Crowley, Jason Little, Phil Kearns and Tim Horan, plus South Africa's Os du Randt.^{[citation needed]}

He retired as the most-capped lock of all time, with 84 test appearances in that position (his other two tests were as a number eight). Eales has since been surpassed in caps as a lock by several players.^[1]

Post rugby career

Business

Eales was a founder of the Mettle Group (a culture and leadership consultancy, which is now part of Chandler Macleod), and his personal company the JohnEales5 (now part of International Quarterback, a sports marketing and events company).^[8] He is also a director of Flight Centre and GRM International, and an Australian Financial Review columnist. He is also engaged as a consultant for Westpac and Qantas.^[2][3]

John is also an Ambassador of Bonville Golf Resort and a guest lecturer at the University of Notre Dame. He is also a director on the board of the Australian Rugby Union.

John has fulfilled the role as an Athlete Liaison Office for the Australian Olympic Committee in the Athens and Beijing Olympics, and was also involved in the London Olympics.

John Eales is also an Ambassador for the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation.

Media

Eales acted as a "rugby ambassador" at the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France, which involved a number of media duties.^[9]

Author

Eales has written 2 books, 'Learning From Legends', a Sport and a Business version. LFL Sports has a foreword by former Australian Prime Minister John Howard and talks about different legends of Australian Sport including Peter Brock and Grant Hackett. LFL Business talks about different legends within the business world and the lessons that can be learned from them.

Honours

• Eales was named the 2002 Queenslander of the Year.
• Eales has given his name to the John Eales Medal, annually awarded to the best Australian rugby union player.
• In 1999 he was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to the community and rugby.^[2]
• 30 August 2000 Australian Sports Medal awarded for his contribution to Australian Rugby
• In 2001, he was inducted into the Australian Institute of Sport 'Best of the Best'.^[10]
• Eales was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2003.^[11]
• In 2007, he was inducted into the International Rugby Board Hall of Fame.^[1]
• Eales was inducted to the Wallaby Hall of Fame in 2011.^[12]

References

• John Eales: The Biography by Peter FitzSimons (2001)

External links

• http://www.johneales5.com/
• Mettle Group
• Sporting Heroes Profile
• "The Goal is Success" – Guest editor MyCareer Sydney Morning Herald 11 November 2006