Don Furner (26 December 1932 – 24 February 2020) was an 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 players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

footballer and coach. As a player, he represented Queensland on nine occasions and also toured with the 1956–57 Kangaroos. He began his coaching career as a

player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

with Junee in 1964. In that year, the team won their first Group 9 grand final as well as the

Maher Cup The Maher Cup was an Australian rugby league (originally rugby union) challenge cup contested between towns of the South West Slopes and northern Riverina areas of New South Wales between 1920 and 1971. The main teams involved were Cootamundra, Tum ...

. In 1965 he began coaching the

Queanbeyan Blues Queanbeyan Blues United Rugby League Club is an Australian rugby league football club based in Queanbeyan, New South Wales formed in the late 1920s. They conduct teams for both junior and senior teams. Notable Juniors * Johnny Hawke (1949-52 S ...

, guiding that club to three successive

Group 8 Group 8 may refer to: * Group 8 element, a series of elements in the Periodic Table * Group 8 Rugby League, a rugby league competition * Group 8 (Sweden), a feminist movement in Sweden * Group VIII, former nomenclature for the noble gas The n ...

premierships (1965–67) and a further two Grand Finals (1968–69). He coached the

Eastern Suburbs Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional 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 fifteen ...

(1970–72), whom he took to the

1972 NSWRFL season The 1972 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the 65th season of Sydney's professional rugby league football competition, Australia's first. Twelve teams, including six of 1908's foundation clubs and another six from across Sydn ...

's premiership final. He returned to the Queanbeyan Blues from 1973 to 1981, his team reaching the Grand Final in each of those nine seasons, including six premierships and a Clayton Cup win in 1974. Furner then became the first coach of the newly formed

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 ...

. Furner also coached the Canberra club to the

1987 NSWRL season The 1987 NSWRL season was the 80th season of professional rugby league football in Australia. Thirteen clubs competed for the New South Wales Rugby League premiership's J J Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup during the season, which culminated i ...

's Grand Final. He later joined Parramatta for the

1985 NSWRL season The 1985 New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the seventy-eighth season of professional rugby league football in Australia. Thirteen teams competed for the J J Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup during the season, which culminated in a gra ...

. He was appointed the Australian national coach from 1986 to 1988. He coached the NSW Country team and two now-defunct Group 20 clubs, Narrandera Lizards in 1998 and Yanco Wamoon Hawks in 2005. He took the latter to the 2005 group 20 grand final, which they lost to West Wyalong. His sons are David Furner who used to be a player and coach of the

and Don Furner, Jr. who became the Canberra Raiders' CEO. Furner died on 24 February 2020, aged 87.

References

External links

Queensland Representatives at qrl.com.au
1932 births 2020 deaths Australia national rugby league team coaches Australia national rugby league team players Australian expatriate sportspeople in Fiji Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league players Canberra Raiders coaches Fiji national rugby league team coaches Queensland rugby league team players Sydney Roosters coaches {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1930s-stub