Mark O'Neill (rugby league)

Mark O'Neill (born 19 June 1975) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. He played in Australia for the Balmain Tigers, then the Wests Tigers following the joint venture of Balmain and the Western Suburbs Magpies, and in England for the Leeds Rhinos and the Hull Kingston Rovers in the Super League. O'Neill's usually played as a second-row.

Mark O'Neill
O'Neill in 2004
Personal information
Born (1975-06-19) 19 June 1975
Paddington, New South Wales, Australia
Playing information
Height188 cm (6 ft 2 in)
Weight100 kg (15 st 10 lb)
PositionSecond Row
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1994–99 Balmain Tigers 102 10 0 0 40
2000–05 Wests Tigers 121 11 0 0 44
2006 Leeds Rhinos 11 0 0 0 0
2007 Hull Kingston Rovers 17 5 0 0 20
Total 251 26 0 0 104
Source: [1]

Biography

O'Neill was born in Paddington, New South Wales, Australia on 19 June 1975.

Playing career

A staunch and durable player, O'Neill was a member of the Tigers, in both their forms, for twelve seasons.

O'Neill was on the receiving end of a serious case of foul-play in 2004 when Danny Williams of the Melbourne Storm punched O'Neill in the face in an off the ball incident. Williams received an 18-match ban.[2]

In 2005 he was voted team captain, a title Scott Prince took over during O'Neill's twelve weeks absence with an elbow injury. Controversially, coach Tim Sheens retained Prince as captain on O'Neill's return to the team.[3] He went on to play at second-row forward in the Tigers 2005 NRL Grand Final win over the North Queensland Cowboys.

At the end of the 2005 season, O'Neill moved to England and Leeds Rhinos. His season at Leeds was marred by injury. A pre-season friendly resulted in a shoulder injury which sidelined him for four months and a leg muscle tear resulted in six weeks off the field.[4][5] O'Neill's contract at Leeds was not renewed and he spent 2007 at Hull Kingston Rovers where he played his final year in professional rugby league before retiring.[6]

Post-playing career

In February 2008, O'Neill was appointed to the NRL's Match Review Committee. The committee scans match videos for incidents of foul play.[7][8]

In 2016, O'Neill worked at his former club the Wests Tigers as football manager but later resigned after alleged misconduct.[9]

He also worked for Sky News as a rugby league analyst.

In October 2018, O'Neill was appointed as general manager of football at the Parramatta Eels.[10]

Career highlights

Footnotes
  1. Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org
  2. "18 weeks: Williams down for the count". The Sydney Morning Herald. 5 August 2004. Retrieved 17 November 2007.
  3. "O'Neill still seething over losing captaincy". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2 October 2005. Retrieved 17 November 2007.
  4. Laine Clark (28 December 2005). "O'Neill injury hampers début". Fox Sports News (Australia). Retrieved 9 February 2008.
  5. "O'Neill's days numbered at Leeds". AAP. 2 August 2006. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 9 February 2008.
  6. Richard Rae (27 January 2008). "Shaping up for the Super League season". Times Online (The Sunday Times). Retrieved 9 February 2008.
  7. Steve Mascord (9 August 2006). "New Tiger Ellis has O'Neill to thank". The Daily Telegraph (Sydney). Retrieved 9 February 2008.
  8. "Former Rhino gets new role". Leeds Rhinos. 8 February 2008. Retrieved 8 February 2008.
  9. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/sep/30/mark-oneill-resigns-from-nrls-wests-tigers-amid-misconduct-allegations
  10. https://www.nrl.com/news/2018/10/10/parramatta-eels-team-returning-to-intrust-super-premiership/
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