Andrew Leeds (born 19 September 1965) is an Australian former

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

and professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. He played for the

Western Suburbs Magpies The Western Suburbs Magpies (legal name: Western Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club Ltd) are an Australian rugby league football club based in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Formed in 1908, Wests, as they are commonly r ...

Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and their ...

Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith that competes in the NRL. The team is based west of the centre of Sydney, at the foot of the Blue Mountains. Penrith ...

and

Wakefield Trinity Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, that plays in the Super League. One of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895, between 1999 and 2016 the c ...

in rugby league primarily as a goal-kicking ; and for

Parramatta Two Blues Western Sydney Two Blues Rugby, formerly Parramatta Two Blues Rugby, is a rugby union club based in Parramatta, the second CBD of Sydney, Australia. The club was formed in 1879 and competes in the Shute Shield run by the New South Wales Rugby ...

and

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its hom ...

in rugby union, he represented 14 times in

between 1986 and 1988.

Playing career

Leeds played junior

with the Northmead club, Merrylands JRU and

James Ruse Agricultural High School , motto_translation = Deeds not words , established = , type = Government-funded co-educational academically selective and specialist secondary day school , educational_authority = NSW Departm ...

. Joining the

, Leeds played in the 1985 and 1986 premiership winning sides, and went on to play for Sydney, New South Wales and Australia in 1986. Leeds made three tours with the

Wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and so ...

, appearing in fourteen tests, and played in the

1987 Rugby World Cup The 1987 Rugby World Cup was the first Rugby World Cup. It was co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia – New Zealand hosted 21 matches (17 pool stage matches, two quarter-finals, the third-place play-off and the final) while Australia hosted 11 ...

. Converting to

, Leeds joined the

for the 1989 season. He spent 3 years with the Eels, but failed to perform when played at centre or five-eighth. After a year spent with the

, Leeds joined Wests from 1993 onwards. Leeds was a player with deceptive pace and skill. He was "safe, reliable and a match-winner with the boot." He scored over 500 points for the Magpies, often in under-performing teams, before announcing his retirement in 1999. He is the fourth highest point-scorer for the club. In 1997 Leeds returned to rugby union with England's

, then coached by Bob Dwyer, he played 6 games for the club including 4 games in

Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

. Leeds later joined the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional Rugby league, rugby league football team, based in the Inner West and South West Sydney. They have competed in the National Rugby League since being formed at the end of the 1999 NRL season as a j ...

as their physiotherapist and rehab manager, and did similar unpaid work with the Two Blues As of 2012, Leeds was the Wests Tigers' longest serving employee, having missed only one game since the club started in 2000.

References

Sources

External links

Andrew Leeds at NRL Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leeds, Andrew 1965 births Living people Australia international rugby union players Australian rugby league players Australian rugby union players Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Leicester Tigers players Parramatta Eels players Penrith Panthers players Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby union players from Sydney Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league centres People educated at James Ruse Agricultural High School Rugby union fullbacks Wakefield Trinity players Western Suburbs Magpies players