Clinton Schifcofske

Clinton Schifcofske
Personal information
Full name Clinton Schifcofske
Nickname Choka, Jock, Brains
Born (1975-11-10) 10 November 1975
Moranbah, Queensland, Australia
Height 183 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight 93 kg (14 st 9 lb) [1]
Playing information
Rugby league
Position fullback, wing
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1996–97 South Queensland 23 7 40 0 108
1998–00 Parramatta Eels 72 21 180 0 444
2001–06 Canberra Raiders 139 44 432 12 1052
2010–11 Celtic Crusaders 47 6 120 0 264
Total 281 78 772 12 1868
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2002–06 Queensland 2 0 2 0 4
2005 Prime Minister's XIII 1 0 4 0 8
Rugby union
Position Fullback, Wing
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2006–08 Queensland Reds 23 3 70 0 197
2007 Ballymore Tornadoes 8 2 20 0 82
2008–10 Ulster 30 1 22 0 65
Total 61 6 112 0 344
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2007 Australia A 4 2 25 0 66
As of 15 Nov 2013
Source: RLP, ITS Rugby

Clinton Schifcofske (born 10 November 1975 in Moranbah, Queensland) is a retired Australian rugby league and rugby union footballer. During his career, he played for the Crusaders in the European Super League.[2][3] as well as the South Queensland Crushers, Parramatta Eels and the Canberra Raiders in Australia. In the sport of rugby union, he played for Irish club Ulster in the Magners League competition and also he spent a year with Queensland Reds in Super Rugby. His position of choice was fullback. He is of Polish descent.[4]

Rugby league

In 2001 and 2004 Schifcofske was named the Canberra Raiders' player of the year. In 2006 he was made captain of the club. In the same year, due to an injury incurred by Karmichael Hunt, Schifcofske was chosen in the Queensland Maroons side for the 2006 State of Origin series decider. He was the Maroons' third fullback for the series after Matt Bowen was dropped after Game One.

During the middle of the 2006 season he made the decision to switch codes from Rugby League to Rugby Union signing a two-year deal with the Queensland Reds for the 2007 season. During the 2006 season, one of Schifcofske's penalty goal attempts in a match against the Wests Tigers was the subject of Ray Warren's commentary; as he was taking the shot, Warren called the words: "Eddie Jones (who was at the time the coach of the Queensland Reds), if you're watching..." and Schifcofske nailed the shot. In the same match, he nailed a field goal in golden point to win Canberra the match. He had the best goal kicking success rate in the NRL ahead of both Andrew Johns and Hazem El Masri. His final NRL match was played at Telstra Stadium on 9 September 2006 against the Canterbury Bulldogs where the Raiders were knocked out of the finals race. He finished the 2006 NRL season as the Raiders' top point-scorer. Schifcofske ran 3,741 metres with the ball in 2006, more than any other player in the competition.[5]

Schifcoske's 1,604 points in first grade placed him 9th in Australian rugby league's all time top point scoring list.

Rugby union

Schifcoske's Rugby Union career started when the Queensland Reds took on Japan with Schifcoske having a sound performance in his first game and then playing for an invitational World XV side against The Springboks. After being planned to be used as a goal-kicking winger by Eddie Jones the season-ending injury to Reds and Wallabies Fullback Chris Latham, Schifcoske was selected to play in his preferred position of Fullback. In 2007 he represented Australia A in the Pacific Nations Cup in all 5 games. Australia finished runners up to the Junior All Blacks.

Schifcofske is weighing up a two-year offer from the Reds as well as interest from five other clubs, including a large deal from Ulster Rugby. It's understood two are from league, an unnamed NRL club and Perpignan-based Super League franchise Catalans Dragons, while other interest comes from rugby union clubs in England and Japan.[6]

It has since been confirmed that he will be leaving the Reds at the end of the 2008 Super 14 season, and joining the Irish province Ulster for three seasons.

Return to rugby league

Mid-way through 2010's Super League XV, Schifcofske signed with the Crusaders, returning to rugby league. After Michael Witt suffered a season-ending knee injury, Schifcofske became the team's primary goal kicker. In 20 appearances for the Crusaders in 2010, he scored a team-high 120 points.

Awards and honors

References

  1. ↑ "Crusaders Rugby League". web page. Crusaders Rugby League Club. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
  2. ↑ "SCHIFCOFSKE JOINS CRUSADERS". Sportinglife. 01-04-2010. Retrieved 01-04-2010. Check date values in: |access-date=, |date= (help)
  3. ↑ "Schifcofske seals Crusaders move". Crusaders. 01-04-2010. Retrieved 01-04-2010. Check date values in: |access-date=, |date= (help)
  4. ↑ http://www.sportsaustralia.com/articles/mar06/artid5138.html
  5. ↑ Proszenko, Adrian (6 May 2012). "Gallen set to smash record". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
  6. ↑ "Schifcofske in high demand". Fox Sports. 2008-04-23. Retrieved 2008-04-23.

External links

Sporting positions
Preceded by
Simon Woolford		 Canberra Raiders captain
2006 		Succeeded by
Alan Tongue


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, February 20, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.