George Ndaira

George Ndaira
Personal information
Born (1985-02-22) 22 February 1985
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Playing information
Height 177 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight 86 kg (13 st 8 lb)
Position hooker, halfback
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2006 St. George Illawarra 3 0 0 0 0
2008 South Sydney 14 0 2 0 4
2009–10 Newcastle Knights 8 0 1 0 2
Total 25 0 3 0 6
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2007–09 Lebanon 9 2 13 0 34
Source: Rugby League Project

George Ndaira (born 22 February 1985 in Sydney, New South Wales) is a retired professional rugby league footballer. He played for the St. George Illawarra Dragons, South Sydney Rabbitohs and Newcastle Knights in the National Rugby League and represented Lebanon at international level. He played at hooker and halfback.

Rugby league career

Playing career

Ndaira was a part of the 2005 St George Illawarra Dragons Jersey Flegg Grand Final side. He played his school football at Marist College Kogarah and was coached by Dave Callander and Mark Hildebrandt.

He made his first grade debut in 2006 for the St George Illawarra Dragons. He played three first grade games with the Dragons. In 2007, joined the Sydney Roosters, however, he did not play a first grade game for the club, playing mostly in the reserve grade team. In 2008, he joined South Sydney Rabbitohs, playing fourteen games for the club in the season, and scoring four points (by kicking two goals).

In 2009, he joined the Newcastle Knights. He played there for two seasons. After the 2010 season, Ndaira was released from the Knights so he could sign with local Newcastle club, Kurri Kurri Bulldogs. However, this was short-lived, and he joined the Wests Tigers in 2011. While waiting for a spot in the Tigers' first grade team, he played for the Tigers' feeder side in the NSW Cup. After failing to reach first-grade for the Tigers, Ndaira again signed with Kurri Kurri for the 2012 season, as the captain-coach.[1]

In 2015, Ndaira was an assistant coach for the Newcastle Knights New South Wales Cup side. During the season, he was asked to come out of retirement by head coach Matt Lantry, after the side suffered a number of injuries.[2] He subsequently went on to play in the Knights' 2015 New South Wales Cup Grand Final win over the Wyong Roos.[3][4]

Representative career

Ndaira played for Lebanon in the 2008 Rugby League World Cup qualifiers however Lebanon drew with Ireland and did not qualify.[5] George's moved from his usual position of Hooker to Half Back whilst playing in the Qualifiers and earned two Man of the Match performances against Wales & Ireland before his side bowed out against Samoa.

Career highlights

Coaching career

Ndaira captain-coached the Kurri-Kurri Bulldogs, who played in the local Newcastle Rugby League competition. He began this role in 2012 and lasted for two years.[6]

In 2014, Ndaira became an assistant coach for the Newcastle Knights New South Wales Cup team.

References

  1. ↑ Josh Leeson (29 July 2012). "Former Knight Ndaira to captain-coach Kurri". Newcastle Herald. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
  2. ↑ Dillon, Robert (2015-09-16). "George Ndaira nabs chance to exit as a winner | Newcastle Herald". Theherald.com.au. Retrieved 2015-10-15.
  3. ↑ "VB NSW Cup Grand Final Team List". NSWRL. Retrieved 2015-10-15.
  4. ↑ Brett Keeble. "Newcastle Knights extend Clint Newton's career with NSW Cup win over Wyong Roos". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 2015-10-15.
  5. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20070928151330/http://www.daleelaustralia.com/sports/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1161821116&archive=&start_from=&ucat=6&. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 15 November 2006. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. ↑ Callinan, Josh (2013-12-04). "Ndaira to keep eye on Bulldogs". The Maitland Mercury. Retrieved 2015-10-15.

External links


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