John Plath (born 17 March 1969; Gayndah, Queensland) is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s. He played in all of the Brisbane Broncos' first four grand final wins from the interchange bench and retired as the most-capped Bronco not to have played representative football. Plath was a Queensland schoolboy rugby union representative in 1986/87. He played rugby league for Wynnum-Manly Seagulls before he was graded by the Brisbane Broncos from their Colts team 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 ...

. Plath also had a season with the London Crusaders in 1991-92. His utility value saw him on the bench in the Broncos' inaugural grand final win in

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

. In the weeks following the grand final, Plath travelled with the Broncos to England, where he played from the interchange bench in the

1992 World Club Challenge The 1992 World Club Challenge match was contested by the 1991–92 Rugby Football League season champions Wigan and the 1992 NSWRL season's premiers, the Brisbane Broncos. The match took place on Friday night, 30 October in England, during the 1 ...

against British champions Wigan, helping Brisbane become the first NSWRL club to win the match in Britain. The following year, he again played in the Broncos' grand final, helping them to a second consecutive premiership. He was a replacement player in Brisbane's 14-20 loss to Wigan in the

1994 World Club Challenge The 1994 MMI World Club Challenge was a replay of the 1992 World Club Challenge, with 1993–94 Rugby Football League season champions Wigan facing the 1993 NSWRL season premiers, the Brisbane Broncos, this time in Australia. Wigan were clearl ...

Lang Park Lang Park, also known as Brisbane Football Stadium, by the sponsored name Suncorp Stadium, and nicknamed: 'The Cauldron', is a multi-purpose stadium in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, located in the suburb of Milton. The current facility co ...

. Plath was also used from the bench in Brisbane's win over the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in the Broncos'

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 ...

grand final for the 1997 Telstra Cup before keeping his big-game interchange reputation intact in a cameo role in the Broncos' 1998 NRL grand final win against the

Canterbury 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 ...

. After retiring from playing, Plath spent two years at Wynnum-Manly as a development officer and CEO. In 2016, John Plath or "Plathy" as he is affectionately known returned to rugby union assisting in coaching the Wynnum Bugs. He also took on a special mentoring project at the club with the team's struggling players, giving them a name "The Red Rockets" to try to lift them out of their squalor.

Personal life

Plath's son

Max Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...

also played for Wynnum-Manly Seagulls and was signed by the Dolphins (NRL) in 2023. With Plath’s youngest son Jordan Plath signed with the South Sydney Rabbitohs u21s.

References

1969 births People educated at Brisbane State High School Australian rugby league players Brisbane Broncos players Wynnum Manly Seagulls players Rugby league hookers Rugby league halfbacks Rugby league locks Living people Australian rugby league administrators Rugby league players from Queensland {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1960s-stub