Mark Murray (born 1 May 1959) is an Australian former

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 and coach. He represented

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in test matches and

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_ ...

in the

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 ...

. His position of choice was . Murray has also coached 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 ...

and State of Origin.

Playing career

Murray, a qualified teacher, was an instrumental player in the early Queensland State of Origin sides, and played 17 games (15

) between 1981 and 1986. He also represented his country on six occasions between 1982 and 1985 (not including one non-test international against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

), and toured with the famous 1982 Invincibles, and made his test debut for

from the bench in a pre-

Kangaroo Tour Kangaroo Tour is the name given to Australian national rugby league team tours of Great Britain and France, tours to New Zealand and the one-off tour to Papua New Guinea (1991). The first Kangaroo Tour was in 1908. Traditionally, Kangaroo Tours to ...

test against

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New ...

in 1982, though he would not play any of the 5 tests on the Kangaroo tour against

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Murray also played in the Brisbane Rugby League premiership with the

Norths Devils The Northern Suburbs Devils, or North Brisbane Devils, or often simply referred to as Norths for short, are a rugby league club representing the northern suburbs of Brisbane, Australia. The team colours are sky blue, navy blue and gold. They pl ...

, captaining them to a famous premiership win over Souths in 1980 under the coaching of Kiwi

Graham Lowe Sir Graham Michael Lowe is the owner of the Bradford Bulls together with fellow New Zealander Andrew Chalmers. He is a New Zealand former rugby league football coach and administrator. He previously coached in Australia and England and was the ...

, before moving to the

Valleys Diehards The Fortitude Valley Diehards, often referred to simply as Valleys, are an Australian semi-professional rugby league football club based in the Brisbane suburb of Fortitude Valley. History Until their demise in 1995, the Fortitude Valley Dieh ...

for the 1982 season to play alongside representative team mate Wally Lewis. In 1983 he shifted to the Redcliffe club and played for them up until midway through the 1986 season.

Coaching career

Murray's playing career was cut short that year by an eye injury which required surgery. After coaching Redcliffe to a Woolies Trophy win and minor premiership in 1990, he was appointed coach of the

Eastern Suburbs Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional 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 fifteen ...

in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership between 1991 and 1994, before he was sacked mid-season and replaced by Arthur Beetson. Before his sacking, Murray had already been effectively demoted from the role as Roosters head coach, to be officially designated as "co-coach" with former Roosters player

John Peard John "Bomber" Peard (born 15 January 1945) is an Australian former rugby league footballer and later coach. An Australian international and New South Wales representative , he played for the Eastern Suburbs, St George and Parramatta NSWRFL ...

for much of the 1994 season. Murray was appointed coach of Queensland in 1999, but was released as coach after the 2000 series, in which the Maroons lost the series 0-3 and were beaten in the last match by 56-16. He and

Michael Hagan Michael Hagan (born 12 August 1964) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach and former player. He currently works as an assistant coach under Mal Meninga for the Australian rugby league team. A Queensland State of Origin repr ...

are the only two coaches in Queensland's history not to have won an Origin series for the state as head coach (although Murray did coach the side in 1999 when the Maroons retained the shield and Hagan was assistant coach when they won the series in 2010). Murray also has the worst winning percentage of any Queensland coach, with only one win and one draw from six matches at 16.6%. Murray was also the coach of the Brisbane Norths rugby league team in 1998 when they defeated the

Wests Panthers The Western Suburbs Panthers, often simply referred to as Wests for short, are a rugby league club based in the western suburbs of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The club is the oldest in the QRL and despite absences from the top grade in rec ...

in the

1998 Queensland Cup The 1998 Queensland Cup season was the 3rd season of Queensland's top-level statewide rugby league competition. The competition was contested by sixteen teams over a 27-week long season (including finals), with the Norths Devils defeating the ...

Grand Final. After the resignation of

Chris Anderson Chris Anderson may refer to: Sports * Chris Anderson (baseball) (born 1992), American baseball player * Chris Anderson (cheese roller), 22-time winner of annual cheese rolling * Chris Anderson (footballer, born 1925) (1925–1986), Scottish footb ...

as coach of the Melbourne Storm in April 2001, Murray took over the role for his second stint as a mentor in the NSWRL/ARL/NRL. He was unable to repeat the success of his predecessor however, and was ultimately released in favour of

Craig Bellamy Craig Douglas Bellamy (born 13 July 1979) is a Welsh former professional footballer who played as a forward and is current assistant manager at EFL Championship side Burnley. Born in Cardiff, Bellamy began his senior playing career with Norw ...

after the 2002 season. He since became the CEO of the Norths club.

References

External links

Mark Murray at stateoforigin.com.auQueensland representatives at qrl.com.au
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Mark 1959 births Living people Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league players Melbourne Storm coaches Norths Devils coaches Norths Devils players Queensland Rugby League State of Origin coaches Queensland Rugby League State of Origin players Redcliffe Dolphins players Rugby league halfbacks Rugby league players from Brisbane Sydney Roosters coaches