John Cogger (born 26 April 1963) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a . He played at club level for Western Suburbs,

Runcorn Highfield Liverpool Stanley was a semi-professional rugby league club from Liverpool, England. It was renamed Liverpool City in 1951, but was otherwise unrelated to the original Liverpool club of the same name. The club's origins date back to 1880 whe ...

and Oldham.

Playing career

Australia

Cogger made his first grade debut for Western Suburbs in 1983. He suffered a broken jaw in a match against Balmain early in 1985, which ruled him out for the rest of the year.

England

Cogger moved to England in 1986, joining Second Division club

. He was named Division Two Player of the Year in 1987. He played in the club's heavy defeat to Wigan in the first round of the 1988–89 John Player Special Trophy, with most of Runcorn's professional players having gone on strike. In 1989, he briefly served as caretaker coach at the club following the departure of

Bill Ashurst William Frank Ashurst (12 April 1948 – 14 June 2022) was an English professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and coached in the 1980s. He played at representative level for Great Britain and Lancashire, ...

. Cogger joined Oldham in February 1989, and was appointed as the club's captain. During the 1989–90 season, he helped the club reach the

1989–90 Lancashire Cup The 1989–90 Lancashire Cup was the 77th occasion on which the completion had been held. Warrington won the trophy by beating Oldham by the score of 24-16 in the final. The match was played at Knowsley Road, Eccleston, St Helens, Merseyside ...

final and

1989–90 Challenge Cup The 1990 Challenge Cup was the 89th staging of rugby league's oldest knockout competition, the Challenge Cup. Known as the Silk Cut Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons, the final was contested by Wigan Warriors, Wigan and Warrington Wolves, Warr ...

semi-final, narrowly losing to Warrington on both occasions.

Personal life

John Cogger is the brother of

Trevor Cogger Trevor Cogger (born 30 January 1961) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. He played for the Western Suburbs Magpies. He played 160 first grade games in the New South Wales Rugby League ...

, who also played rugby league for Western Suburbs. His nephew,

Jack Cogger Jack Cogger (born 5 August 1997) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a and for the Penrith Panthers in the NRL. He previously played for the Newcastle Knights and the Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs in the NRL ...

, has played for several clubs in the National Rugby League and

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 ...

References

External links

Profile
at Oldham Rugby League Heritage Trust {{DEFAULTSORT:Cogger, John 1963 births Living people Australian rugby league players Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby league locks Western Suburbs Magpies players Liverpool City (rugby league) players Oldham R.L.F.C. players