Danny Sullivan (rugby league)

Danny Sullivan is a former rugby league player. His position of preference was in the Second Row.

Early years

Danny grew up in Sydney. A sporting talent, he attended Westfields Sports High School. In 1999 he toured France, Ireland and England with Australian School Boys team. The team was undefeated and on this tour and Danny got to play alongside future starts such as Braith Anasta, Mark Gasnier, Brent Tate and Jamie Lyon.^[1] As an Australian representative Danny was inducted into the Westfields Sports Hall of Fame and also won a New South Wales Sporting Blue.^[2][3]

Parramatta

Danny had been a junior at the Parramatta Eels while at Westfields Sports and he made his National Rugby League debut for the club in 2001. He played five games that season, coming off the bench. This was enough to earn the Eric Grothe rookie of the year award as the club's best youngster in 2001.^[4]

He had an impressive off season with the club in 2002^[5] and was even being talked about as a possible NRL Rookie of the Year award winner for the 2002 season.^[6] However he suffered a severe knee injury and required a Knee ACL reconstruction.^[7] This was later compounded when he developed a Golden staph infection. This injury was to completely ruin his next two seasons and haunt him for the rest of his career.

Later years

In 2004 Danny joined the New Zealand Warriors seeking to rebuild his career. At the time the head coach was Daniel Anderson who had previously coached Danny in the youth sides at Parramatta. Danny managed to play one game for the Warriors, starting in the second row, before again suffering knee problems. He was later ruled out for the season. When Daniel Anderson was fired and replaced by Tony Kemp midway through the season Danny decided to retire and return to Australia.^[8][9]

References