Luke O'Dwyer (born 30 January 1983) is a 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 11 ...

footballer who played for the

Gold Coast Titans The Gold Coast Titans are a professional rugby league football club, based on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australia and New Zealand's national rugby league club competition. The ...

and

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 ...

in 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 ...

competition. A utility player, O'Dwyer played at centre, five-eighth, second row and lock at different times during his career.

Playing career

Raised in the southern Gold Coast town of

Tweed Heads Tweed Heads is a town in New South Wales. It is located on the Tweed River in north-eastern New South Wales, Australia, in Tweed Shire, next to the border with Queensland and adjacent to its "twin town" of Coolangatta, which is a suburb of the ...

, O'Dwyer played his junior football for the

Tweed Heads Seagulls The Tweed Heads Seagulls, often referred to simply as Tweed or Seagulls or Tweed Seagulls, is a rugby league club based in Tweed Heads, New South Wales. It is one of only two non-Queensland teams to play in the Queensland Cup, along with th ...

. While playing for Seagulls, he caught the eye of the

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

coach, Brian Smith. O'Dwyer made his first grade debut for the Eels in 2004, coming off the bench in their round 1, 26–18, victory over 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 c ...

. He played three seasons at Parramatta including the

2005 NRL season The 2005 NRL season was the 98th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the eighth run by the National Rugby League. The lineup of clubs remained unchanged from the previous year, with fifteen teams contesting the 2005 Te ...

where the club won the Minor Premiership, before getting the chance to move back home to play for the newly formed

. A member of their inaugural squad, O'Dwyer became a regular in the side, playing over 100 games for the club. O'Dwyer missed the club's 2009 and 2010 finals appearances through injury and was also part of the

Wooden Spoon Wooden Spoon may refer to: * Wooden spoon, implement * Wooden spoon (award) A wooden spoon is an award that is given to an individual or team that has come last in a competition. Examples range from the academic to sporting and more frivolous e ...

team of 2011.

Personal life

O'Dwyer is married to wife, Kara, and they have three sons, Jax, Zave and Krue. Since 2006, in O'Dwyer's home town of

, the two local primary schools, St. Joseph's Primary and St. James' Primary, compete for the annual O'Dwyer Shield. The O'Dwyer Shield is named in memory of Luke O'Dwyer's younger brother, Ryan, who lost his battle against leukaemia in 1998. Ryan was a student at St. Joseph's at the time, while Luke O'Dwyer attended both schools during his youth. The O'Dwyer Shield is an important event in the Tweed Heads community with the Titans being involved every year. In 2010, St. Mary's Primary Casino filled in as a late minute inclusion for St. Joseph's who were unable to play in the match.

References

External links

*
Luke O'Dwyer
at the

official website.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Odwyer, Luke 1983 births Living people Australian rugby league players Gold Coast Titans players Parramatta Eels players Rugby league centres Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Griffith, New South Wales Rugby league second-rows Tweed Heads Seagulls players