Leon Bott (born 19 October 1986 in

Canterbury, New South Wales Canterbury is a suburb extending across south-western Sydney and the Inner West, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Canterbury is located south-west of the Sydney central business district in the City of Canterbury-Bankstown. The for ...

) is an Australian 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 ...

and

union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

footballer.

Early years

Bott attended Lurnea Public School, Lurnea High School, Moorebank High School and Westfield Sports High School, making the Australian Schoolboys rugby union team in 2003 & 2004.

Career

Brisbane Broncos

Bott made his debut 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 ...

in the 2005 season playing for 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 ...

, the club he followed as a boy. He signed with the

for a reported A$20,000 a year and reportedly turned down a contract from 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 ...

worth around A$350,000 a year. It proved to be worthwhile for Bott who played in 24 games and scored 13 tries for the Broncos including a hat-trick against the

St George Dragons The St. George Dragons is an Australian rugby league football club from St George District in Sydney, New South Wales that played in the top level New South Wales competition and Australian Rugby League competitions from the 1921 until th ...

in Round 6. At the end of the 2005 season Leon Bott won the

Brisbane Broncos 2005 The 2005 Brisbane Broncos season was the eighteenth in the club's history, and they competed in the NRL's 2005 Telstra Premiership. Coached by Wayne Bennett and captained by Darren Lockyer, they finished the regular season 3rd (out of 15) despit ...

Rookie of the Year Award. He was also nominated for the Dally M Rookie of the Year the same year but missed out to

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 ...

half-back

Tim Smith Tim, Timothy or Timmy Smith may refer to: Musicians * T. V. Smith (born 1956), British singer and songwriter *Tim Smith (Cardiacs) (1961–2020), English singer-songwriter and frontman of Cardiacs *Timmy Trumpet (born 1982), Australian DJ and prod ...

. The 2006 season would not be as bright for Bott as his rookie season proved to be as he injured his shoulder and struggled to hold down a wing slot at the Broncos due to eventual

Brisbane Broncos 2006 The 2006 Brisbane Broncos season was the nineteenth in the club's history. Coached by Wayne Bennett and captained by Darren Lockyer, they won the NRL's 2006 Telstra Premiership, finishing the regular season in 3rd place before going on to defea ...

Rookie of the Year award winner

Darius Boyd Darius Boyd (born 17 July 1987) is a former Australian professional rugby league footballer who played , , and for the Brisbane Broncos in the NRL and has played for Australia at international level and State of Origin for Queensland. Boyd c ...

playing very strongly. After such a strong rookie season in 2005 in the NRL he only played once for the Broncos in 2006 and became frustrated being stuck playing with the Broncos feeder club side

Toowoomba Clydesdales The Toowoomba Clydesdales are a rugby league football club based in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. The Clydesdales originally played in the Queensland Cup from the competition's inception in 1996 until 2006, and were the feeder club for the ...

in the

Queensland Cup The Queensland Cup, currently known as the Hostplus Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level regional rugby league football competition in Queensland, Australia. It is run by the Queensland Rugby League (QRL) and is contested by four ...

and eventually asked for a release from the Broncos and signed mid-season with the

Cronulla Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Cronulla, in the Sutherland Shire, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugby league ...

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks

Again Bott never had a concrete role in the first grade squad at Cronulla and after only one appearance in the NRL in the 2006 season he again asked for a release at the end of the year.

Canterbury-Bankstown

Bott joined Canterbury during the 2007 pre-season on a train-and-trial basis but medical staff discovered his shoulder was not stable and he required reconstructive surgery. After going through extensive rehabilitation and one-on-one fitness sessions with Canterbury trainers, he was signed with Canterbury until the end of the 2008 season.

Rugby Union

Bott switched back to

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

, the code he grew up playing at school, to play for

Manly RUFC Manly Rugby Union Football Club is a rugby union club based in Manly, a suburb of Sydney. The club was formed in 1883 and competes in the New South Wales Rugby Union competitions, the Charter Hall Shute Shield. Manly, known as the Marlins, pl ...

in the 2009

Shute Shield The Shute Shield is a semi-professional rugby union competition in Sydney, Australia. It is the premier club competition in New South Wales. The Shute Shield is awarded to the winning team from the Sydney premiership grand final held at the end ...

season. In August 2009, Bott made headlines after inflicting a dangerous tackle on Randwick's David Dillon. After a ball was kicked high in the air, Bott flattened Dillon without the ball which resulted in Dillon being taken to hospital with a ruptured spleen. Despite protests from Randwick, Bott was allowed to remain on the field. Bott played season 2010 for Penrith Emus in the Shute Shield.

References

External links

NRL player profileBulldogs profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bott, Leon 1981 births Living people Australian rugby league players Australian rugby union players Australian people of Tuvaluan descent Australian people of New Zealand descent Brisbane Broncos players Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks players Toowoomba Clydesdales players Rugby league wingers Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby union players from Sydney