Brett Papworth (born 5 November 1963 in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, New South Wales, Australia) played first grade rugby league for the Eastern Suburbs Roosters in the New South Wales Rugby League competition. He had formerly been an Australian rugby union international. His position of choice was usually at .

Career

Papworth was raised in the Sydney suburb of Epping and attended Epping Boys High School.RA & the private schoolboy image ''ABC News 14 June 2023''
/ref> Introduced to rugby during his primary education with the local Epping Rugby club, he played first-grade rugby union with Eastwood in the New South Wales competition coached by former Wallaby

John Ballesty John Patrick Ballesty (born 20 May 1945) in Strathfield, New South Wales is an Australian former national representative rugby union player who also played first-grade rugby league with the Eastern Suburbs club. Rugby union Ballesty was sch ...

. From there, Papworth proceeded to make a total of fifteen test appearances for the Australian Wallabies side between 1985 and 1987, prior to switching to rugby league the following year. Papworth elected to sign for the Eastern Suburbs side at the commencement of the

1988 NSWRL season The 1988 NSWRL season was the 81st season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and saw the first expansion of the New South Wales Rugby League Premiership outside the borders of New South Wales, and another expansion outside of Syd ...

but his progress was hampered by a series of injuries. Over the next four years in rugby league, Papworth's considerable talents were rarely on show; successive problems with his shoulders and knees, as well as a broken jaw, limited his game time to just seven appearances out of a total of 88 matches. At the conclusion of the 1991 season, Papworth announced his decision to retire at the age of 27. Papworth next had a career in sports commentary. For 20 years, he commentated on the Shute Shield on ABC Television and occasionally on

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

broadcasts on Fox Sports. Papworth also co-hosted a talk back radio sports show "Talkin' Sport" on Australian Radio station 2SM alongside Graeme Hughes, Peter Tunks and Gavin Robertson.

References

External links

Brett Papworth scoring statisticsAustralian Schoolboys who have become Wallabies
Australian rugby league players Living people People educated at Epping Boys High School Sydney Roosters players Australia international rugby union players 1963 births Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby league centres Rugby union players from Sydney Rugby union centres 1987 Rugby World Cup players Eastwood Rugby Club players {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1960s-stub