Anthony Laffranchi

Anthony Laffranchi (born 16 November 1980) is a former professional rugby league footballer. An Australia and Italy international, and New South Wales State of Origin representative forward, he played in the National Rugby League for the Wests Tigers (with whom he won the 2005 NRL premiership) and the Gold Coast Titans, and for Super League club St Helens.

Anthony Laffranchi
Personal information
Born (1980-11-16) 16 November 1980
Murwillumbah, New South Wales, Australia
Height185 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Weight102 kg (16 st 1 lb)
Playing information
PositionSecond-row, Prop, Lock
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2001–06 Wests Tigers 103 18 0 0 72
2007–11 Gold Coast Titans 102 32 1 0 130
2012–14 St Helens 71 19 0 0 76
Total 276 69 1 0 278
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2006–10 Country Origin 4 2 0 0 8
2008–09 New South Wales 4 1 0 0 4
2008–09 Australia 5 2 0 0 8
2012–13 Exiles 2 0 0 0 0
2013 Italy 3 0 0 0 0
Source: [1][2]

Background

Laffranchi was born in Murwillumbah, New South Wales, Australia. He attended Mt St Patrick's College and played early football for the Murwillumbah Colts. He is of Italian descent and was eligible to represent the Italy national rugby league team.[3]

Playing career

Wests Tigers

Laffranchi played at prop forward in the Tigers' 2005 NRL Grand Final victory over the North Queensland Cowboys. As NRL Premiers Wests faced Super League champions Bradford Bulls in the 2006 World Club Challenge. Laffranchi played at second-row forward in the Tigers' 30–10 loss.

Gold Coast Titans

At the end of the Titans' first season Laffranchi was named co-winner of the club's inaugural Paul Broughton Medal for best and fairest player of the season with teammate Luke Bailey.[4] After further solid performance in 2008, he was selected to play for the City vs Country Origin game, representing Country, in which he was awarded Man of the Match.

Laffranchi was named as the 18th man for the Australians for the Centenary Rugby League Test against New Zealand in 2008.

Laffranchi was selected for New South Wales in game I of the 2008 State of origin series. Laffranchi started from the bench and scored the winning try off a Mark Gasnier line break and lead the tackle count (40) for the Blues.

In August 2008, Laffranchi was named in the preliminary 46-man Kangaroos squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup,[5][6] and in October 2008 he was selected in the final 24-man Australia squad.[7]

Laffranchi made his test début against New Zealand in Australia's opening RLWC 08 game on 26 October playing in the Second-row. He followed this up with a two try effort in Australia's second match of the World Cup. He was selected for Australia in the one-off test match against New Zealand on 8 May 2009.[8] He was also an Italian international.[9]

Laffranchi signed a two-year deal with St. Helens starting in 2012.

St Helens

Laffranchi commenced his Super League career in the 2012 season with St. Helens[10].
He played for the Exiles in the International Origin and also represented Italy in the 2013 Rugby League World Cup.

Highlights
  • Junior Club: Murwillumbah Colts
  • First Grade Debut: Round 26, Wests Tigers v Sharks at Leichhardt Oval, 2 September 2001
  • First Grade Record: 116 appearances scoring 22 tries (Total: 88 points)
  • First Grade Clubs: 102 appearances for Wests Tigers (18 tries, 72 points) 2001–2006, 30 appearances for Gold Coast Titans (11 tries, 44 points) 2007, 2008
  • Representative Teams: NSW Blues (State of Origin), 2008 (1 try, 4 points), City Country Match 2006 (1 try, 4 points)

References
  1. loverugbyleague
  2. RLP
  3. Damir Govorcin (30 July 2006). "Curtain-raiser proposal for rugby league minnows". The Catholic Weekly (Australia). Archived from the original on 7 October 2009. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
  4. abc.net.au (4 October 2007). "Bailey, Laffranchi share Titans' top honour". ABC News. Australia: ABC. Retrieved 4 July 2010.
  5. Liam FitzGibbon (1 August 2008). "Surprises in Kangaroos squad". "Fox Sports News (Australia)". Archived from the original on 8 August 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-02.
  6. "Veteran Lockyer named in Australian squad". International Herald Tribune. 1 August 2008. Archived from the original on 16 September 2008. Retrieved 2 August 2008.
  7. "Manly six win Australia call-up". BBC. 7 October 2008. Archived from the original on 10 October 2008. Retrieved 7 October 2008.
  8. Wald, Tom (3 May 2009). "Kangaroos selectors stick by losing World Cup team for New Zealand Test". Fox Sports. Archived from the original on 4 December 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2009.
  9. "Ionio Cup - Italian Players". Angelfire.com. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  10. "Laffranchi to extend his stay at Saints". St Helens Star. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
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