Brandon Costin (born 23 June 1972) 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 who played in the 1990s and 2000s. He initially played under the name Brandon Pearson. He played for the

Huddersfield Giants Huddersfield Giants are an English professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, the birthplace of rugby league, who play in the Super League competition. They play their home games at the John Smiths Stadium which is sha ...

Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby ...

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian rugby league club based in Redfern, a suburb of inner-southern Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and are one of nine existing tea ...

, the

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 ...

and the

United States national rugby league team The United States national rugby league team represents the United States in international rugby league football competitions. The team is managed by the USA Rugby League (USARL). The United States competed with little success in some interna ...

. His position was , although he often featured at other positions including or .

Playing career

A Dubbo junior, Costin made his début for

in 1993, before switching to

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 ...

for the next season. Costin spent 4 seasons with the Magpies. In 1994, he made 8 appearances, but managed to score seven tries in the last five games of the year. His try-scoring form continued in the start on the 1995 season, scoring 6 in the first five games. Towards the end of the year he was moved from centre to five-eighth. In 1996, Costin was a regular in the centres, playing in every game of the season. In the round 12 match against the

Gold Coast Seagulls The Gold Coast Chargers were a professional rugby league club which played in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership from New South Wales Rugby League season 1988, 1988 to New South Wales Rugby League season 1994, 1994, the Australian Ru ...

, Costin scored three tries in one match. That year the Magpies played semi-final football, but were knocked out in their first match. Midway through the 1997 season, Costin made a late change to join

Eastern Suburbs Eastern Suburbs may refer to: Places *Eastern Suburbs (Mumbai), India *Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Australia **Eastern Suburbs railway line, Sydney, Australia Sports clubs ;Association football *Eastern Suburbs AFC, Auckland, New Zealand * Eastern ...

. He went on to play in 2 semi-finals with the Roosters that year, but did not play in the Preliminary Final that they lost. In 1999, Ben Kennedy and Costin were sent home from training after being involved in a drinking session. There were claims that the pair had taken drugs, and Costin confessed to taking an illicit substance, but Kennedy claimed to have spat the tablet out. Subsequent drug tests for both returned negative. As Super League VI champions, the Bradford Bulls played against 2001 NRL Premiers, the

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, th ...

in the

2002 World Club Challenge The 2002 World Club Challenge was held on Friday, 1 February 2002, at the Alfred McAlpine Stadium, Huddersfield, England. The game was contested by Bradford Bulls and Newcastle Knights. Background Bradford Bulls The 2001 Super League Grand Fina ...

. Costin was selected for the interchange bench in Bradford's victory. Costin played for the

at centre in their

2002 Super League Grand Final The 2002 Super League Grand Final was the Fifth official Grand Final and conclusive and championship-deciding game of Super League VII. Held on Saturday 19 October 2002 at Old Trafford, Manchester, the game was played between St. Helens and Brad ...

loss against St. Helens. In the 2003 Super League season, Costin was a nominee for the

Man of Steel Award A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromos ...

and was the 4th highest try scorer, despite missing the last 5 games through injury. He left the club at the end of the 2004 season and went into semi-retirement. After his retirement from professional football, Costin played and coached with Souths Logan in Brisbane.

Coaching career

In 2010, Costin was coach of the Queensland Residents side. In 2018 he coached the Coffs Harbour Comets in the

Group 2 Rugby League Group 2 is a rugby league competition on the north coast of New South Wales Since 1966, run under the auspices of the Country Rugby League. The Group 2 area runs from Grafton in the north to Macksville in the south. Group 2 teams played for ma ...

. An injury crisis at the club saw Costin playing in the semis that year at 46 years old. Costin took over as coach of Fiji in 2019. His first match in charge was a 58-14 win over Lebanon.

References

External links

Super League Stats

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Costin, Brandon 1972 births Living people Australian people of American descent Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league players Bradford Bulls players Canberra Raiders players Country New South Wales Origin rugby league team players Fiji national rugby league team coaches Huddersfield Giants players Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Dubbo South Sydney Rabbitohs players Sydney Roosters players United States national rugby league team players Western Suburbs Magpies players