Kris Radlinski MBE (born 9 April 1976 in Wigan, England) is a former English rugby league Fullback and Centre who played for his hometown club Wigan Warriors throughout his career and also represented Great Britain. He is of Polish descent.[1]
Playing career
He signed for the town's club in 1993, aged 17, and went on to play his entire professional career with them. In 1995, at age 19, he became the first player to score a hat-trick in a Premiership final and also the youngest ever winner of the Harry Sunderland Trophy for man-of-the-match in Wigan's victory.[2]
Radlinski was selected to play for England in the 1995 World Cup final at fullback but Australia won.
In a 13-year playing career Radlinski was a Rugby Football League Championship winner in 1996. He won the Regal Trophy 1996.
In the 1997 post season, Radlinski was selected to play for Great Britain at centre in all three matches of the Super League Test series against Australia.
Radlinski was named in the Super League Dream Team of 1998. He also appeared for the Wigan Warriors at fullback in their 1998 Super League Grand Final victory over Leeds Rhinos. Radlinski played for the Wigan Warriors at centre their 2000 Super League Grand Final loss against St Helens RLFC.
Radlinski played for the Wigan Warriors at fullback in their 2001 Super League Grand Final loss against the Bradford Bulls.
In the 2002 Challenge Cup final at Murrayfield Stadium Radlinski won the Lance Todd Trophy for man of the match. Kris competed in this match despite being in hospital all week prior to Wigan's 21–12 victory over St Helens with a serious foot infection.
Radlinski played for the Wigan Warriors at fullback in the 2003 Super League Grand Final which they lost to the Bradford Bulls.
He was given a testimonial year in 2005 for his loyal service to Wigan Warriors, and despite that year being very successful for the team, it was a difficult season for Kris with him making only 15 appearances for the team through a knee injury. His testimonial match was played at the JJB Stadium on 29 January 2006 against the Huddersfield Giants. Wigan won this match 38–22.
Internationally he was capped 20 times by Great Britain, and won 10 England caps. The pinnacle of his international career, in which he was a main stay in the international setup, saw him captain the team against New Zealand 'A'. He scored three tries in this match.
Rugby Union
He has twice been linked with a big money move to rugby union, in 2001 and 2005, but both times remained at Wigan. One of these offers was to be part of the England Rugby Union team in the preparations for the 2003 World Cup.
Retirement
Radlinski announced his retirement from the sport prematurely on 2 March 2006 due to persistent injuries. He had made 310 appearances for Wigan, scoring 183 tries. This brought down the curtain on a successful career during which the player was a loyal servant to his club and to the game of Rugby League.
Comeback
In June 2006 Radlinski made the shock announcement that he would be coming out of retirement to help his old club Wigan Warriors. Kris had retired from Rugby League and left the Warriors, but after watching Wigan struggle in 2006's Super League XI he decided to come out of retirement to help them avoid relegation. His first match on his return, on 18 June 2006, saw the Wigan Warriors beat Catalans Dragons 24–18. He played the rest of the season for "no fee". Wigan stayed in Super League whilst Castleford Tigers were relegated.
Coaching career
Radlinski returned to Wigan during the 2009 season to take a scholarship coaching role. As well as publishing an autobiography entitled Simply Rad[3] he was given a place on the England coaching staff for the 2009 Four Nations tournament. On 1 December 2009, Radlinski was appointed Rugby General Manager at Wigan and the right-hand man to new head coach Michael Maguire but will also continue his scholarship role as well.[4]
Honors
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Club
- 1995–96 Charity Shield
- 1995–96 Championship
- 1995–96 Regal Trophy
- 1996–97 Premiership
- 1998 Super League
- 2002 Challenge Cup
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Individual
- 1995 Harry Sunderland Trophy – This was awarded for his man of the match performance when he became the first player to score 3 tries in the Premiership final.
- 2001 Roy Powell Medal – Awarded for his man of the match performance in Lancashire's 36–24 victory over Yorkshire.
- Married childhood sweetheart Rachel Turley in December 2007.
- 2007 MBE
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References
External links