Luke O'Donnell (born 22 October 1980) 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 ...
footballer who played in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. An
Australian international and
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, e ...
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 Ov ...
representative forward, he previously played his club football in Australia with
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 ...
teams the
Balmain Tigers
The Balmain Tigers (also known as the Sydney Tigers from 1995–96) are a rugby league club based in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Balmain. They were a founding member of the New South Wales Rugby League and one of the most successful in t ...
,
Wests Tigers
The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West and South West Sydney. They have competed in the National Rugby League since being formed at the end of the 1999 NRL season as a joint-venture ...
,
North Queensland Cowboys
The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest town in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL).
Sinc ...
and 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 ...
, with whom he featured in the club's 13th premiership. O'Donnell also played for two seasons with the
Huddersfield Giants
Huddersfield Giants are an English professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, the birthplace of rugby league, who play in the Super League competition. They play their home games at the John Smiths Stadium which is sh ...
in the
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 ...
.
Early years
Born in Liverpool and raised in Manyana, New South Wales, O'Donnell attended
Ulladulla High School playing for the
Milton-Ulladulla Bulldogs in the
Group 7 Rugby League
South Coast Group 7 Rugby League (or Group 7 Rugby League for simplicity) is the divisional boundary drawn from the Southern Illawarra and South Coast regions (from the town of Warilla south to Ulladulla) of New South Wales, Australia and is go ...
from 1990 to 1996.
After retiring in 2013, O'Donnell has opened a chicken shop named "Tub & Kilo" in
Rosebery,
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountains ...
.
His younger brother
Kyle O'Donnell also became an NRL footballer.
Playing career
Balmain and Wests Tigers
O'Donnell made his first grade début with the
Balmain Tigers
The Balmain Tigers (also known as the Sydney Tigers from 1995–96) are a rugby league club based in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Balmain. They were a founding member of the New South Wales Rugby League and one of the most successful in t ...
on 31 July 1999. He was sin binned on his début match, a loss to the
Sydney City 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 ...
at
Leichhardt Oval
Leichhardt Oval is a rugby league and soccer stadium in Lilyfield, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently one of three home grounds for the Wests Tigers National Rugby League (NRL) team, along with Campbelltown Stadium and Western Sydney ...
. O'Donnell made three appearances off the bench during the 1999 season, all losses.
From 2000, O'Donnell played 4 seasons with the
Wests Tigers
The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West and South West Sydney. They have competed in the National Rugby League since being formed at the end of the 1999 NRL season as a joint-venture ...
, playing in 48 games. However, in the second game of the 2003 season O'Donnell received an 11-week suspension for a late, high tackle that left
Michael Monaghan with a broken jaw,
and played no further games with the Tigers. At the time, it was the second longest suspension in
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 ...
history.
North Queensland Cowboys
O'Donnell joined the
North Queensland Cowboys
The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest town in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL).
Sinc ...
from the 2004 season, and that season was named the club's player of the year. Also in 2004 he was in the first Cowboys team to make the semi-finals. The following year O'Donnell played from at second row in the North Queensland Cowboys' first ever
Grand Final in 2005 which they lost to his former club, the
Wests Tigers
The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West and South West Sydney. They have competed in the National Rugby League since being formed at the end of the 1999 NRL season as a joint-venture ...
. He was then chosen for the
2005 Tri-Nations
The majority of the 2005 Rugby League Tri-Nations was played in Great Britain and Australasia. The final was played between Australia and New Zealand at Elland Road on Saturday 26 November. New Zealand won the match 24-0 and were crowned 2005 Tri ...
team.
Early in the
2007 NRL season
The 2007 NRL season was the one hundredth season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the tenth run by the National Rugby League. Sixteen teams contested the NRL's 2007 Telstra Premiership, and with the inclusio ...
, O'Donnell was involved in a "wishbone" tackle that pulled all his hamstring muscles on his left leg away from his pelvic bone, leaving him unable to play for the rest of the season. The opposition players involved, including
Liam Fulton
Liam Mark Fulton (born 8 August 1984), also known by the nickname of "Bozo", is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. He played for the Wests Tigers in the National Rugby League (NRL) compe ...
and
Bronson Harrison were not charged over the incident.
In 2008, O'Donnell received a 7-week suspension relating to 2 separate striking charges and abusing a sideline official.
In August 2008, O'Donnell was named in the
preliminary 46-man Kangaroos squad for the
2008 Rugby League World Cup
The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup since its inauguration in 1954, and the first since the 2000 tournament. The tournament was held in Australia from 26 October, culminating in the final b ...
.
He was selected for City in the
City vs Country match on 8 May 2009. Later that month, he was named in the 17 man squad to represent
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, e ...
in the opening
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 Ov ...
match on 3 June 2009, in Melbourne. Also in 2009 he was named the Cowboys' player of the year for the second time.
In July 2010, it was announced that O'Donnell had signed a four-year deal to play for the
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 ...
team the
Huddersfield Giants
Huddersfield Giants are an English professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, the birthplace of rugby league, who play in the Super League competition. They play their home games at the John Smiths Stadium which is sh ...
. During his final NRL season he was selected to play the
NRL All Stars Game for the first and only time in his career and was banned for three weeks following an ugly incident in Game II of the
2010 State of Origin series
The 2010 State of Origin series was the 29th annual best-of-three series of interstate rugby league football matches between the Queensland and New South Wales representative teams played entirely under 'state of origin' selection rules. For the s ...
where he dangerously tackled
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_ ...
's
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 ...
and appeared to headbutt
Dave Taylor. Teammate
Mitchell Pearce said of the incident,"I thought he was going to eat him!"
O'Donnell was sent off twice during his time with the Cowboys, once in 2006 (playing against the
New Zealand Warriors
The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as ...
in a match the Cowboys lost 26-0) and once in 2008 (in a match against Penrith which the Cowboys lost in golden point extra time).
O'Donnell left the Cowboys as the most suspended player in NRL history, having spent 29 games suspended. "It was really disappointing considering I work so hard and then come game time you feel like you have a target on your head," he later said.
Huddersfield Giants
O'Donnell joined old Cowboys' teammate
David Faiumu at Huddersfield. He was selected for the
Exiles squad for the
Rugby League International Origin Match
International Origin was an annual series of rugby league football matches between England RL and the Exiles. The International Origin was created by the Rugby Football League (RFL) to ensure that the English national side had a good strong mid ...
against
England at
Headingley
Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headin ...
on 10 June 2011.
Sydney Roosters
On 14 February 2013, it was announced that Luke has signed with the Sydney Roosters on a 1-year deal.
He played only 3 times before being suspended for breaching the Code of Conduct.
He featured in the Roosters'
premiership winning side at the end of the season. He then announced his retirement from the game on 12 December 2013.
Personal life
On 30 January 2019, video footage emerged of O'Donnell being arrested by NSW Police in June 2018. O'Donnell's parents had called police to the players home after he was reported to be acting erratically. It was reported he had been holding a knife to his chin and was hanging out the window of his third story apartment.
When police arrived O'Donnell said “Listen here you c**t you’re not putting handcuffs on me I’ll f**king smash the f**k out of you get off me". O'Donnell was charged with intimidation, causing malicious damage, assaulting a female senior constable in the execution of her duty and resisting arrest. O’Donnell was convicted and fined $1,600 and placed on a one year community corrections order.
Achievements
Individual
*
2006 North Queensland Cowboys season's Players' Player of the Year
*
2009 North Queensland Cowboys season's Players' Player of the Year
*
2010 All Stars match Selection
Team
*
2005 NRL Grand Final –
North Queensland Cowboys
The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest town in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL).
Sinc ...
– Runners-Up
*
2013 NRL Grand Final
The 2013 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2013 NRL season. Played on Sunday, 6 October at Sydney's ANZ Stadium between the minor premiers Sydney Roosters and the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles. The Roosters won ...
–
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 ...
– Winners
References
External links
North Queensland Cowboys profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:ODonnell, Luke
1980 births
Living people
Australian rugby league players
Australia national rugby league team players
Balmain Tigers players
Wests Tigers players
North Queensland Cowboys players
Huddersfield Giants players
Sydney Roosters players
New South Wales City Origin rugby league team players
New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players
NRL All Stars players
Prime Minister's XIII players
Rugby league second-rows
Rugby league locks
Rugby league players from Sydney