Anthony Laffranchi (born 16 November 1980) is a former 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 11 ...

footballer. An Australia and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

international, and

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

State of Origin A State of Origin competition is a type of sporting event between players representing their state or territory. State of Origin began in Australian rules football on 8 October 1977 between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria, at Subiaco Ov ...

representative forward, he played in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

for the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional 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 joint-venture ...

(with whom he won the 2005 NRL premiership) and the

Gold Coast Titans The Gold Coast Titans are a professional rugby league football club, based on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australia and New Zealand's national rugby league club competition. The ...

, and for Super League club St Helens.

Background

Laffranchi was born in

Murwillumbah, New South Wales Murwillumbah ( ) is a town in far north-eastern New South Wales, Australia, in the Tweed Shire, on the Tweed River. Sitting on the south eastern foothills of the McPherson Range in the Tweed Volcano valley, Murwillumbah is 848 km north-ea ...

, Australia. He attended Mt St Patrick's College and played early football for the Murwillumbah Colts. He is of Italian descent and was eligible to represent the

Italy national rugby league team The Italy national rugby league team represents Italy in rugby league football. With origins dating back to the 1950s and 1960s, the team has competed regularly in international competitions since 2008, when their current governing body, the Fed ...

Playing career

Wests Tigers

Laffranchi played at prop forward in the Tigers' 2005 NRL Grand Final victory over the

North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest town in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). Sinc ...

. As NRL Premiers Wests faced Super League champions

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is predom ...

in the

2006 World Club Challenge The 2006 World Club Challenge was a Rugby league match held on Friday, 3 February 2006, at Galpharm Stadium, Huddersfield, UK. The game was contested by Bradford Bulls and Wests Tigers. Qualification Bradford Bulls Bradford Bulls qualified f ...

. Laffranchi played at second-row forward in the Tigers' 30–10 loss.

Gold Coast Titans

At the end of the Titans' first season Laffranchi was named co-winner of the club's inaugural

Paul Broughton Paul Broughton (31 March 1931 – 3 December 2022) was an Australian rugby league footballer, coach and club chief executive. He was the Chairman of the Gold Coast Titans in the NRL. He also served on the board of the North Queensland Cowboys ...

Medal for best and fairest player of the season with teammate Luke Bailey. After further solid performance in 2008, he was selected to play for the

City vs Country Origin City vs Country Origin was an annual Australian rugby league football match that took place in New South Wales between City and Country representative sides. The City side represented the Sydney metropolitan area. While technically it was Sydney ...

game, representing Country, in which he was awarded ''Man of the Match''. Laffranchi was named as the 18th man for the

Australians Australians, colloquially known as Aussies, are the citizens, nationals and individuals associated with the country of Australia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or ethno-cultural. For most Australians, several (or all) ...

for the Centenary Rugby League Test against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in 2008. Laffranchi was selected for

in game I of the

2008 State of origin series The 2008 State of Origin series was the 27th year that the annual best-of-three series of interstate rugby league football matches between the Queensland and New South Wales representative teams was contested entirely under 'state of origin' sel ...

. Laffranchi started from the bench and scored the winning try off a

Mark Gasnier Mark Gasnier (born 19 July 1981) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. A rugby league New South Wales State of Origin and international representative , he played eleven seasons in the N ...

line break and lead the tackle count (40) for the Blues. In August 2008, Laffranchi was named in the preliminary 46-man Kangaroos squad for the

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup since its inauguration in 1954, and the first since the 2000 tournament. The tournament was held in Australia from 26 October, culminating in the final ...

, and in October 2008 he was selected in the final 24-man Australia squad. Laffranchi made his test début against

in Australia's opening RLWC 08 game on 26 October playing in the . He followed this up with a two try effort in Australia's second match of the World Cup. He was selected for Australia in the one-off test match against

on 8 May 2009. He was also an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

international. Laffranchi signed a two-year deal with St. Helens starting in 2012.

St Helens

Laffranchi commenced his Super League career in the 2012 season with St. Helens.
He played for the Exiles in the International Origin and also represented Italy in the

2013 Rugby League World Cup The 2013 Rugby League World Cup was the fourteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup and took place in England, Wales, France and Ireland. between 26 October and 30 November 2013. It was the main event of the year's Festival of World ...

Highlights

*''Junior Club:'' Murwillumbah Colts *''First Grade Debut:'' Round 26, Wests Tigers v Sharks at Leichhardt Oval, 2 September 2001 *''First Grade Record:'' 116 appearances scoring 22 tries (Total: 88 points) *''First Grade Clubs:'' 102 appearances for Wests Tigers (18 tries, 72 points) 2001–2006, 30 appearances for Gold Coast Titans (11 tries, 44 points) 2007, 2008 *''Representative Teams:'' NSW Blues (State of Origin), 2008 (1 try, 4 points), City Country Match 2006 (1 try, 4 points)

References

External links

Saints Heritage Society profileGold Coast Titans profileAnthony Laffranchi NRL Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laffranchi, Anthony 1980 births Living people Australian rugby league players Australian people of Italian descent Australia national rugby league team players Country New South Wales Origin rugby league team players Exiles rugby league team players Gold Coast Titans players Italy national rugby league team players New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players Rugby league props Rugby league second-rows People from the Northern Rivers Rugby league players from Murwillumbah St Helens R.F.C. players Wests Tigers players