John Sutton (rugby league)

John Sutton
Sutton at the 2012 Dally M Awards
Personal information
Born 5 November 1984
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Height 190 cm (6 ft 3 in)
Weight 102 kg (16 st 1 lb)
Playing information
Position Five-eighth, Lock, Second-row
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2004– South Sydney 231 48 7 1 207
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2005 Prime Minister's XIII 1 0 0 0 0
2008–09 NSW City Origin 2 1 0 0 4
Source: [1]

John Sutton (born 5 November 1984 in Sydney, New South Wales) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who currently plays for the South Sydney Rabbitohs of the National Rugby League (NRL). He has played his entire professional career to date primarily as a five-eighth for the Rabbitohs, with whom he won the 2014 NRL Premiership.

Playing career

2000s

Sutton's junior football was played with Kensington United and the Coogee Randwick Wombats. He made his National Rugby League (NRL) premiership debut in Round 17 of the 2004 NRL season for the South Sydney Rabbitohs against the Brisbane Broncos at Suncorp Stadium.

In 2005, Sutton was selected for the Australian Prime Minister's XIII.

In 2007, whilst playing against the Broncos he suffered a shoulder injury attempting to score the Rabbitohs' match-winning try in dramatic circumstances. He was ruled to have knocked on following a late attempt from Broncos fullback Karmichael Hunt to prevent the try. Souths lost the match 8-4 after a scoreless hour of play.

In 2009, Sutton moved to play at five eighth for the Rabbitohs.[2] In 2009 Sutton won the George Piggins Medal as the South Sydney Rabbitohs' best and fairest player for the season.[3]

Sutton was named in the preliminary 40 man squad for game 1 of the 2009 State of Origin series and was selected for City in the City vs Country match on 8 May 2009.[4] He was one of the favorite for the NSW halves combination, but injured a knuckle during the City-Country match (Ironically replaced in that game by Craig Wing) and missed the Origin series as a result.

2010s

Sutton was named by coach Michael Maguire as one of five co-captains of the South Sydney Rabbitohs for the 2012 season. In 2013, Michael Crocker was named captain of the Rabbitohs.

At the end of the 2012 season Sutton was included in the Australian train-on squad.

2011–2013

With Greg Inglis becoming fullback in 2011 and the bright future rookie Adam Reynolds filling in the halfback role to pair up with John Sutton, the South Sydney Rabitohs have made a mark in the competition.

On 5 October 2014, in the Rabbitohs 2014 NRL Grand Final match against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, Sutton played at second-row and captained in the Rabbitohs to a 30-6 Grand Final victory.[5][6]

2014

Sutton was a part of the 2014 Premiership-winning team, breaking the 43-year drought, finally holding up the Provan-Summons trophy, after a successful year, although in the end coach Mick Maguire preferred him to the second-row position and decided to play him there instead of five-eighth. Luke Keary played five-eighth.

Representative career

Due to his Rotuman mother who comes from the village of Hapmafau, Itu’tiu, Rotuma, Sutton qualifies to play for the Fiji Bati. Fiji attempted to call Sutton up for their training squad for the 2008 World Cup,[7] but he pulled out citing injury.[8][9]

He was named in the Fiji squad for the 2013 World Cup but was replaced by Ryan Millard prior to the tournament.[10][11] Sutton has never played for Fiji.

Personal life

Sutton is a member of the Maroubra Bra Boys brotherhood.[12] He is the older brother of Joanna Sutton.

References

  1. ↑ RLP
  2. ↑ McCullough, Ian (4 April 2009). "Sutton loving life as a five-eight". Fox Sports News (Australia). Retrieved 6 August 2009.
  3. ↑ http://www.theburrow.net.au/current-news-items-mainmenu-2/1-burrow-information/2820-r--g-ball-merritt-wins-the-burrows-player-of-the-year-for-2009
  4. ↑ Balym, Todd (3 May 2009). "Blues halfback duel in two as Mitchell Pearce misses selection". Fox Sports. Retrieved 3 May 2009.
  5. ↑ http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/south-sydney-rabbitohs-win-2014-nrl-grand-final-defeating-canterbury-bulldogs-306/story-fni3fbgz-1227080755667
  6. ↑ http://www.nrl.com/rabbitohs-grand-final-player-ratings/tabid/10874/newsid/82375/default.aspx
  7. ↑ "Civoniceva will skipper Panthers in 2008". The Fiji Times Online. 4 February 2008. Retrieved 6 August 2009.
  8. ↑ "Bati pencil in new Newcastle pace ace Uate". The Fiji Times Online. 1 August 2008. Retrieved 8 August 2008.
  9. ↑ "Fijian preliminary squad". RLWC08.com. 6 August 2008. Retrieved 2 August 2008.
  10. ↑ http://www.fijivillage.com/?mod=story&id=081013fa3bcd94af02ccbb50ed43af
  11. ↑ Sutton-ly a Bati fijitimes.com
  12. ↑ Hooper, James (9 March 2008). "Maitua, Sutton back Bra Boys". Fox Sports News (Australia). Retrieved 6 August 2009.

External links