Geoffrey Toovey (born 17 June 1969), also known by the

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

of "Toovs" or "Tooves", is the former head coach of 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 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. Toovey played halfback for 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 ...

, then played as a later in his career at the

Northern Eagles The Northern Eagles were a rugby league team, that competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) between 2000 and 2002. The club was formed during the rationalisation process of the NRL by the merger of the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles and the Nort ...

. He played 286 first-grade matches in all, and captained Manly to the 1996 ARL premiership and the 1995 and 1997 grand finals. He played in 13 international matches for

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 ...

between 1991 and 1998. Toovey is the former head coach of Manly-Warringah.

Early life

Toovey was educated at Davidson High School and played his junior rugby league for the

Belrose Eagles The Belrose Eagles are a rugby league team based in the suburb of Belrose in Sydney's Northern Beaches. Founded in 1955, the club has fielded both junior and senior teams in the Manly-Warringah district competitions and since 2013 the semi-pr ...

, who participate in the

Manly-Warringah/North Sydney District Rugby League The Manly-Warringah District Junior Rugby League (MWDJRL) and North Sydney District Junior Rugby League (NSDJRL) is an amateur rugby league competition for senior and junior rugby league clubs in Sydney's Northern Suburbs. History All Distric ...

district competition.

Representative and playing career

Toovey made his first grade debut for Manly-Warringah in round 10 1988 against Cronulla-Sutherland at

Brookvale Oval Brookvale Oval (also known by the commercial sponsorship name 4 Pines Park) is a sporting ground located within Brookvale Park at Brookvale, New South Wales, Australia. The ground is owned by Northern Beaches Council and is primarily used by th ...

. Toovey played for Manly in subsequent finals campaigns in 1990, 1991 and 1994. Toovey debuted for the New South Wales Blues in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

, and was selected for the

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

team's end-of-season tour of

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

in 1991 where he made his test debut for the Kangaroos, playing in all four games on tour including both tests against the

Papua New Guinea Kumuls The Papua New Guinea national rugby league team represents Papua New Guinea in the sport of rugby league football. In Papua New Guinea, Rugby League is a highly popular sport and is regarded as the country's national sport. The national side ar ...

. During the 1995 season at the commencement of the

Super League war The Super League war was a commercial competition between the Australian Rugby League (ARL) and the Australian Super League to establish pre-eminence in professional rugby league competition in Australia and New Zealand in the mid-1990s. Super ...

, Toovey again played

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 Oval ...

for NSW, though the team suffered a 3-0 loss to

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

who were coached by his former Manly team mate

Paul Vautin Paul Vautin (born 21 July 1959) nicknamed Fatty, is an Australian football commentator and formerly a professional rugby league footballer, captain and coach. He has provided commentary for the Nine Network's coverage of rugby league since join ...

. With the non-selection of

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 ...

players, Toovey was recalled to the Australian team for the first time since 1991 in the 3-0 Trans-Tasman series win over

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in 1995. At the end of the season in which Manly finished as minor premiers but beaten Grand Finalists, he was selected in the Australian squad for the

1995 Rugby League World Cup The 1995 Rugby League World Cup was held during October in the United Kingdom. It was the eleventh staging of the Rugby League World Cup and was marketed as the Halifax Centenary World Cup, reflecting the tournament's sponsorship and the fact ...

, playing in the Kangaroos 16-8 win over host nation

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in the World Cup Final at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

. Although selected at halfback for the game, coach

Bob Fulton Robert Fulton (1 December 1947 – 23 May 2021), also nicknamed "Bozo", was an Australian international rugby league footballer, coach and later commentator. Fulton played, coached, selected for and has commentated on the game with great succe ...

only played Toovey in the position during scrums and utilised his speed off the mark by playing him at dummy half in general play with

Andrew Johns Andrew Gary Johns (born 19 May 1974) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest players in rugby league history. Johns captained the Newcas ...

(named at hooker) assuming the halfback role. In the

1996 State of Origin series The 1996 State of Origin series saw the 15th time that the annual three-game series between the Queensland and New South Wales representative rugby league football teams was contested entirely under 'state of origin' selection rules. This series s ...

, Toovey and Johns continued with the now commonplace positional and role interchange they had used successfully in the World Cup. Toovey captained Manly to the 1996 premiership after they defeated

St. George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...

in the grand final. Toovey also won the

Clive Churchill Medal The Clive Churchill Medal is the award given to the player judged to be man-of-the-match in the National Rugby League's annual Grand Final. The award was created to honour Clive Churchill, one of the greatest rugby league players in Australian ...

after being man of the match. In 1997, Toovey captained New South Wales to a

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 ...

victory and played a Test match against a Rest of the World side. Manly would again finish as minor premiers for a third straight season in 1997. Toovey played in the club's grand final defeat against 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 ...

. Toovey played with Manly-Warringah up until the end of the

1999 NRL season The 1999 NRL season was the 92nd season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the second to be run by the National Rugby League. With the exclusion of the Adelaide Rams and Gold Coast Chargers, and the joint venture of the St. Ge ...

and played in what was at the time to be the club's last game as a stand-alone entity which came against St George in round 26 1999. At the conclusion of the season, Manly controversially merged with arch rivals North Sydney to form the

as part of 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 ...

's rationalisation policy. Toovey was the club's inaugural captain for the

2000 NRL season The 2000 NRL season was the 93rd season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the third to be run by the National Rugby League. Fourteen teams competed from February till August for the NRL Premiership, culminating in the 2000 ...

. In

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

he played at hooker in NSW's clean sweep against Queensland. Toovey's final season as a player came during the

2001 NRL season The 2001 NRL season was the 94th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the fourth run by the National Rugby League. Also called the 2001 Telstra Premiership (due to sponsorship from Telstra Corporation) it was contested b ...

. His last game came in round 26 2001 against the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club Ltd., commonly referred to as the Broncos, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos play in Australia's elite com ...

in which the Northern Eagles were defeated 42-14.

Captaincy

At the height of the

, Toovey was honoured as Australian Test captain for the 1996 one-off Test against the Papua New Guinea Palais (the ARL loyalist side).

Post playing

Toovey retired at the end of 2001. He became an accountant by profession and a member of the board of the

NRMA NRMA (formerly National Roads and Motorists' Association) is an Australian organisation offering roadside assistance, advocacy for motorists and road-users, motoring advice, car servicing, International Driving Permits, travel and other services ...

Coaching career

Toovey joined the Manly coaching staff when

Des Hasler Desmond John Hasler (born 16 February 1961) is an Australian professional rugby league coach, and a former professional rugby league footballer who played as and . He initially played for the Penrith Panthers, and then spent most of his playi ...

took over as coach in 2004 and in 2011 was appointed as Manly's head coach from the 2012 season, after Hasler first announced he would be moving to the

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilita ...

for the 2012 season. Toovey's first competitive match in charge of the Sea Eagles was their defeat in the 2012 World Club Challenge. In the 2012 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles season, Toovey's first as an NRL head coach, the club came to within one game of the grand final but lost to Melbourne. In the

2013 NRL season The 2013 NRL season was the 106th season of professional rugby league club competition in Australia. The National Rugby League's main competition, named the 2013 Telstra Premiership after major sponsors Telstra Corporation, was contested by sixte ...

, Toovey guided Manly into the

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

against 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 ...

. The Roosters ran out 26-18 winners. During the year, Toovey was fined 10,000 by 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 ...

following his press-conference after Manly had lost their Round 23 game to South Sydney. Toovey had been unhappy with a number of refereeing decisions during the game, won 22-10 by the Rabbitohs, and had famously called for an investigation. In 2015, Manly sacked Toovey following a disappointing season and was replaced by Trent Barrett. In January 2017, it was announced that Toovey would become the head coach of

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 ...

side

, taking over from

Rohan Smith Rohan H. Smith (born 31 May 1973) is a former Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League. Debuting in 1992 after being recruited around 1990, Smith has long been one of the Bulldogs' favourite sons, with his reputation r ...

following the liquidation and re-establishment of the club. In 2022, Toovey was an assistant coach for the

Samoa national rugby league team The Samoa national rugby league team represents Samoa in rugby league football and has participated in international competition since 1986. Known as Western Samoa before 1997, the team is administered by Rugby League Samoa and are nicknamed To ...

in the

2021 Rugby League World Cup The 2021 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC2021) was a collection of world cups in the sport of rugby league, held in England from 15 October to 19 November 2022. England won hosting rights for the competition on 27 October 2016. The bid received £2 ...

References

Sources

* Whiticker, Alan (2004) ''Captaining the Kangaroos'', New Holland, Sydney

External links

Geoff Toovey at Silvertails.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Toovey, Geoff 1969 births Living people Australia national rugby league team captains Australia national rugby league team players Australian accountants Australian rugby league coaches Bradford Bulls coaches Clive Churchill Medal winners Manly Warringah Sea Eagles captains Manly Warringah Sea Eagles coaches Manly Warringah Sea Eagles players New South Wales City Origin rugby league team players New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin captains New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players Northern Eagles players People educated at Davidson High School Rugby league halfbacks Rugby league hookers Rugby league players from Sydney