Daniel Heckenberg (born 27 October 1979) is a former

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

international rugby league footballer. He played as a at club level in the

NRL 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

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 ...

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 ...

and the

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rugb ...

, in the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

for

Harlequins RL The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club in London, England. The club competes in the RFL Championship. It was a member of Super League from its inaugural season in 1996 until the end of the 2014 season, when they were relegat ...

, and in the

RFL Championship The Championship, known as the Betfred Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a professional rugby league competition. It is the Rugby Football League Championship Second Division, second-tier competition organised by the Rugby Football Lea ...

for the

Widnes Vikings The Widnes Vikings are an English rugby league club in Widnes, Cheshire, which competes in the Betfred Championship. The club plays home matches at the Halton Stadium. Founded as Widnes Football Club, they are one of the original twenty-two rug ...

Early career

Heckenberg was born in Camden, New South Wales, Australia. Heckenberg began his rugby career at

St Gregory's College, Campbelltown , motto_translation = What you sow, so shall you reap , established = , type = Independent single-sex and co-educational comprehensive and specialist primary and secondary day and boarding school , specialist = Agricultural sch ...

, a school renowned for producing young

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 ...

footballers. He first played internationally as part of the

Australian Schoolboys The Australian Schoolboys refer to junior teams that represent Australia in various sports. The name is mainly used in rugby league, rugby union and baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players ...

team in a match against the BARLA Young Lions. After his graduation he played for a short while as an amateur for the

Eagle Vale Eagle Vale is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Eagle Vale is located 56 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Campbelltown and is part of the M ...

St Andrews St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fou ...

junior side.

NRL

He began his professional career at

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 ...

side

, progressing through the youth team and earning his first grade début in 2000. In the same year, Heckenberg made his first appearance as a Scotland international, participating in the 2000 Rugby League World Cup. He moved club in 2002, joining the

, before changing team again in 2004, this time playing with the

. He provided much defensive support for the Sea Eagles and was held in high esteem by his peers at the club.

Harlequins Rugby League

His performances led to a transfer to Super League side Harlequins, and he soon became an important part of the team's defensive game. Heckenberg confirmed his first grade place in the beginning of his second year at the club but suffered a severe shoulder injury in a match against

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 May, bringing his 2007

Super League XII Engage Super League XII is the official name for the year 2007's Super League season in the sport of rugby league. The 2007 season kicked off on the weekend of 2 February 2007 at the Galpharm Stadium. For the first time, the league had a stagge ...

campaign to an end. Harlequins coach Brian McDermott described Heckenberg as a hard worker and an integral part of the team. Heckenberg underwent surgery in June to correct the problem but when he returned from injury for 2008's

Super League XIII Engage Super League XIII was the official name, due to sponsorship, for the 2008 Super League season by Engage Mutual. Twelve teams competed for the Minor Premiership over 27 rounds (including Millennium Magic) after which, the top 6 finishing t ...

he again suffered a setback. He dislocated his shoulder in training in March 2008, resulting in a six-week absence from the team.

Representative

Heckenberg was named in the Scotland training 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 b ...

but was forced to withdraw from the competition due to injury.

Personal

In his spare time, Heckenberg enjoys listening to the music of the

Foo Fighters Foo Fighters are an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Foo Fighters was initially formed as a one-man project by former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl. Following the success of the eponymous debut album, Grohl (lead vocals, guitar) re ...

and U2, and also helps to train youth rugby league players at Elmbridge Rugby League Club.

Statistics

*All information taken from Harlequins RL 2008 Club Guide.

References

External links

Harlequins RL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heckenberg, Daniel 1979 births Living people Australian people of Scottish descent Australian rugby league players London Broncos players Manly Warringah Sea Eagles players Scotland national rugby league team players St. George Illawarra Dragons players Parramatta Eels players Rugby league props Rugby league players from Sydney Widnes Vikings players