Ben Hornby (born 18 February 1980) is an Australian 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 112 ...

footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. An

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

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 back, he captained the

St George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 after a joint- ...

of 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 ...

from 2009 until his retirement in 2012. Hornby played his entire career with the Dragons, leading them to the 2010 NRL Premiership and becoming their most capped player since the formation of the joint venture club in 1999.

Early life

Hornby was born in

Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wate ...

, Australia. He went to Corrimal Public School and Corrimal High School.

Playing career

Hornby began his NRL rugby league career in 2000. He represented

in the

State of Origin series The State of Origin series is an annual best-of-three rugby league series between two Australian state representative sides, the New South Wales Blues and the Queensland Maroons. Referred to as “Australian sport's greatest rivalry”, the ...

of 2004, 2006 and 2008 and played one match for Australia, their loss to Great Britain during the

2006 Rugby League Tri-Nations The 2006 Rugby League Tri-Nations (also known as the Gillette Rugby League Tri-Nations due to sponsorship by Gillette) was the second Rugby League Tri-Nations tournament hosted by Australia and New Zealand. The tournament followed the same format ...

. Previously a co-captain in 2007, in 2009 coach Wayne Bennett appointed Hornby captain of the St George Dragons from the start of the 2009 season. Hornby was selected for Country in the

City vs Country A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

match on 8 May 2009. However, he did not play in the match after withdrawing with injury. On 3 October 2010, Hornby captained St. George Illawarra to their first Premiership in 31 years, when they defeated the

Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby league, Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won ...

32–8 in the 2010 NRL Grand Final. He went on to captain the club to victory in the following February's 2011 World Club Challenge against the

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors are a professional rugby league club in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Super League. Formed in 1872 as Wigan Football Club, Wigan was a founding member of the Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby ...

in England. Hornby announced his retirement from St. George Illawarra in August 2012 after playing 13 seasons for the club.

Career highlights

*''Junior Club:''

Corrimal Cougars The Corrimal Cougars are an Australian rugby league football team based in Corrimal, a country town of the Illawarra region. The club are a part of Country Rugby League and has competed in the Illawarra Rugby League premiership since 1912. Hist ...

*''First Grade Debut:'' Round 23, St George Illawarra v Penrith at Penrith, 8 July 2000 *''Representative Record:'' Under 19 Australia 1999, Under 19s NSW 1999, Origin NSW 2004, City vs Country 2005 and 2006, NSW 2006,

Junior Kangaroos The Junior Kangaroos side represents Australia in the sport of rugby league. They are commonly known as the Junior Kangaroos, after the native marsupial of that name. Since 2019, they are an under-23 side, with players selected from the NRL. The ...

2006, Australia 2006 *''Captaincy:'' Round 1, St George Illawarra v Melbourne Storm at Melbourne, 2009 *''Premiership:'' Grand Final, St George Illawarra v Sydney Roosters at ANZ Stadium, 3 October 2010

Coaching career

Upon retiring in 2012, Hornby began his coaching career as the junior development coach for St. George before becoming an assistant to the first grade side in later years. In 2020, Hornby joined the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian 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 pla ...

club as the Development Coach. Since 2021, he has been the assistant coach to Wayne Bennett.

References

External links

State of Origin Official website Rugby League Player Stats

Ben Hornby
player profile at

St. George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 after a joint-ve ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hornby, Ben 1980 births Living people Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league players Country New South Wales Origin rugby league team players New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league halfbacks Rugby league players from Wollongong St. George Illawarra Dragons players