Royce Simmons

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Royce Simmons
Personal information
Born	(1960-05-02) 2 May 1960 Gooloogong, New South Wales, Australia
Playing information
Height	173 cm (5 ft 8 in)
Weight	86 kg (13 st 8 lb)
Position	Hooker
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
1980–1991	Penrith Panthers	233	15	1	3	61
Representative
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
1984–1988	New South Wales	10	1	0	0	4
1986–1987	Australia	10	0	0	0	0
Coaching information
Club
Years	Team	Gms	W	D	L	W%
1992–1994	Hull
1994–2001	Penrith Panthers	187	77	6	104	41
2011–2012	St Helens
	Total	187	77	6	104	41
Source: NRL Stats, RLP

Royce Simmons (born 2 May 1960 in Gooloogong, New South Wales) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach and former player, and former head coach of St Helens RLFC in the European Super League.^[1] A former test hooker, New South Wales representative and long-serving Penrith Panthers player in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership, he later became coach of the club after his retirement.

Biography

Playing career

After trialling with both St. George and Souths, Simmons was eventually given a contract in 1980 with Penrith. Simmons played much of his first year at lock but was moved to hooker late in the 1981 season.

Simmons was first selected to represent New South Wales as a hooker for games II and III of the 1984 State of Origin series, replacing Rex Wright who had been chosen for game I.

A successful 1986 series against Queensland, including a Man of the Match in game I, secured Simmons a place as the first Penrith player to represent Australia. He made his debut against New Zealand in July 1986 and played in ten international games over the next year. Simmons' final test appearance came in Australia at Lang Park against New Zealand, losing 6–13.

Simmons was selected for all games of the 1987 State of Origin series, including the fourth game held in Long Beach, California, U.S.A. His last appearance in a New South Wales jersey was in game I of the 1988 series, losing 18–26.

In 1983, Simmons was appointed captain of the team, a position he retained until 1990 when he captained the Panthers in the 1990 Grand Final loss to the Canberra Raiders. Despite struggling with injuries, he memorably scored two tries in the 1991 Grand Final against the same opponents. The Panthers won their first premiership, and Simmons retired. In the post-game celebrations, Simmons said he wanted to have a beer with every Penrith supporter.^[2]^[3] Following the grand final victory he travelled with the Panthers to England for the 1991 World Club Challenge which was lost to Wigan.

In October 2004, Simmons was named at hooker in the Panthers' Team of Legends.^[4]

Coaching career

Simmons began coaching in 1992 for St Marys reserve grade side. Late that year he moved to England to coach Hull for two seasons.^[5]^[6]

Simmons went on to become Panthers coach in the closing stages of the 1994 NSWRL season after Phil Gould was dismissed, and served for seven seasons until he was himself sacked from the position after the 2001 NRL season, when the Panthers won the wooden spoon.^[7] The Panthers made the finals twice under Simmons' tenure, in the 1997 Super League finals and National Rugby League season 2000 finals.

Simmons served as the Wests Tigers assistant coach under his former coach Tim Sheens from 2003 to 2010,^[8] during which time they took out the 2005 NRL Premiership. He has also worked as Tim Sheens' assistant coach for the Australian national team.

Simmons was named to take over the coaching position at St Helens in 2011,^[9] and parted company in March 2012. ^[10] Simmons was sacked after a five game losing streak. Commenting on the decision, he said, "If I had a neck, I'd probably hang myself."^[11]

In November 2012, Simmons was named assistant coach at NRL side Wests Tigers.

References

↑ St Helens RLFC (18 November 2010). "Simmons proud to be at Saints". St Helens RLFC. Retrieved 18 November 2010.
↑ "A walk down NRL grand final memory lane". Daily Telegraph (Sydney). Retrieved 15 December 2010.
↑ Liz Ellis (4 October 2003). "Adversity brings out Penrith spirit". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
↑ "Team of Legends". Penrith Panthers. Retrieved 2008-02-03.
↑ hullfc.com. "Coaches and Captains". History. Hull FC. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
↑ "Factbox on sacked Penrith coach Royce Simmons". Australia: AAP Sports News. 11 September 2001. Retrieved 2010-07-25.
↑ "Simmons sacked as Penrith coach" (fee required). AAP Sports News (Australia). 9 November 2001. Retrieved 2008-02-03.
↑ "Simmons ready to return a better coach" (fee required). AAP Sports News (Australia). 27 August 2002. Retrieved 2008-02-03.
↑ "Simmons new St Helens coach". Sydney Morning Herald. 23 July 2010. Retrieved 6 August 2010.
↑ "Saints part company with Royce Simmons". St Helens Star. 18 March 2012. Retrieved 18 March 2012.
↑ Ian Laybourn (21 March 2012). "Simmons to be missed in Super League". Daily Telegraph (Sydney). Retrieved 25 April 2012.

Whiticker, Alan and Hudson, Glen (2007). The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players. Wetherill Park, New South Wales: Gary Allen Pty Ltd. p. 609. ISBN 978-1-877082-93-1.
Gary Lester (editor) (1983). The Sun Book of Rugby League - 1983. Sydney, New South Wales: John Fairfax Marketing. p. 72. ISBN 0-909558-83-3.

External links

Preceded by Phil Gould 1990-1994	Coach Penrith Panthers 1994-2001	Succeeded by John Lang 2002-2006

1986 Kangaroo Tour squad

v t e St. Helens – current squad

1 Lomax 2 Makinson 3 Turner 4 Jones 5 Swift 6 Hohaia 7 Walsh 8 Masoe 9 Roby 10 McCarthy-Scarsbrook 11 Soliola 12 Wilkin 13 Manu 14 Laffranchi 15 Flanagan 16 Amor 17 Wheeler 18 Magennis 19 Wellens 20 Beaumont 21 Gardner 22 Percival 23 Greenwood 25 Walker 26 Dawson 27 Richards 28 Thompson 29 Hand 30 Forster 31 Tilley 32 Charnock 33 Sevelio 34 Dwyer Coach: Brown

v t e Penrith Panthers

Est. 1967 in Penrith, New South Wales

The Club	History Records Players Coaches

Home Ground	Centrebet Stadium Penrith

Important Figures	Phil Gould Royce Simmons Izzard brothers Tim Sheens Alexander brothers Steve Carter Ryan Girdler

League	NSWRL ARL SL NRL

Premierships (2)	1991 2003

Seasons (46)	1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Other Competitions	Current National Youth Competition S. G. Ball Cup Harold Matthews Cup Past Amco Cup Jersey Flegg Cup New South Wales Cup

Affiliations	Windsor Wolves

v t e Penrith Panthers squad – 1991 NSWRL Premiers (1st Title)

1 Greg Barwick 2 Graham Mackay 3 Brad Fittler 4 Col Bentley 5 Paul Smith 6 Steve Carter 7 Greg Alexander (c) 8 Paul Clarke 9 Royce Simmons 10 Paul Dunn 11 Mark Geyer 12 Barry Walker 13 Colin van der Voort 14 John Cartwright 15 Brad Izzard Coach: Phil Gould

v t e Penrith Panthers' Team of Legends – 40 Year Legend Team

1 Wesser 2 Landers 3 Moran 4 Girdler 5 McIndoe 6 Fittler 7 Alexander 8 Geary 9 Simmons 10 Sheens 11 Cartwright 12 Ashurst 13 van der Voort 14 Gower 15 Izzard 16 Geyer 17 Puletua

Penrith Panthers coaches

Leo Trevena (1967)
Bob Boland (1968–72)
Leo Trevena (1973)
Jack Clare (1974)
Mike Stephenson (1975)
Barry Harris (1975–76)
Don Parish (1977–78)
Len Stacker (1979–81)
John Peard (1982–83)
Tim Sheens (1984–87)
Ron Willey (1988–89)
Phil Gould (1990–94)
Royce Simmons (1994–01)
John Lang (2002–06)
Matthew Elliott (2007–11)
Steve Georgallis (2011)
Ivan Cleary (2012–present)

Persondata
Name	Simmons, Royce
Alternative names
Short description	Australian rugby league player
Date of birth	1960-02-05
Place of birth	Gooloogong, New South Wales
Date of death
Place of death

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