Rod Reddy

Rod Reddy
Personal information
Full name Rodney William Reddy
Nickname Rockhampton Rocket
Born (1954-03-01) 1 March 1954
Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia
Playing information
Height 6 ft 1 in.
Weight 14 st 5 lb.
Position Second-row, Lock
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1972–83 St George 204 65 1 0 198
1984–85 Illawarra Steelers 33 1 0 0 4
1987–89 Barrow
Total 237 66 1 0 202
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1973–80 New South Wales 13 3 0 0 9
1980 Queensland 1 0 0 0 0
1977–82 Australia 17 7 0 0 21
Coaching information
Club
Years Team Gms W D L W%
1997–98 Adelaide Rams 26 7 1 18 27

Rod Reddy (born 1 March 1954 in Rockhampton, Queensland) is an Australian former rugby league footballer and coach. He played for the St. George Dragons between 1972 and 1983 and the Illawarra Steelers between 1984 and 1985.[1] He also represented Queensland in the State of Origin and the Australia national rugby league team.

Playing career

As a player, Rod Reddy is remembered as one of the St. George Dragons most famous players from the 1970s. He joined the club in 1972 and stayed for 12 seasons. He was a member of premiership winning teams in 1977 and 1979. Rod Reddy had a formidable reputation as one of the hardest forwards of his era, both in attack and defence.

Reddy represented Australia on 17 occasions between 1977-1982. Reddy is listed on the Australian Players Register as Kangaroo No. 497.[2] He also represented Queensland in the first State of Origin series match played on 8 July 1980.

He ended his playing career at the Illawarra Steelers in 1985.

Coaching career

Rod Reddy took on a player-coach role at Barrow in 1987. Barrow earned promotion to Division One but that campaign saw Barrow manage only one league win and suffer a club record 90-0 defeat at Leeds. Reddy was sacked and Denis Jackson took over as a caretaker coach for the rest of 1989/90

After a successful coaching stint with Cumbria, Reddy took on the reserve grade coaching duties position Brian Smith at St George. He was appointed Smith’s successor as coach in 1996 but embraced the Super League concept and walked out on his former club before a match was played. After sitting out the 1996 season while Super League successfully lodged its appeal, Reddy was the inaugural coach of the Adelaide Rams in 1997’s Super League season.

After a poor start to the 1998 season, Reddy and his coaching staff were sacked by the Rams’ administration, and the club folded at the end of the year.

Family

He is the father of current Central Coast Mariners football goalkeeper Liam Reddy, Adelaide Thunderbirds netball goalkeeper Bianca Reddy and South Sydney Rabbitohs rugby league back Joel Reddy.

Rod Reddy was awarded Life Membership of the St. George Dragons in 1981.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Lester, Gary, ed. (1984). Rugby League: Action '85. Sydney: Fairfax Publishing. p. 30. ISBN 0-909558-83-3.
  2. ↑ ARL Annual Report 2005, page 55
  3. ↑ Dragons - Our Proud History (website)

External links

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