Matthew Elliot (rugby League)
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Matthew Elliott (born 8 December 1964) is an Australian 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 ...
football coach, commentator and former player. He has previously coached in the
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 ...
with the Canberra Raiders, Penrith Panthers and 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 ...
, as well the Bradford Bulls 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 ...
and the
United States national team The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...
. Elliott is currently the Assistant Coach at the
St. George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 after a joint-ve ...
.


Playing career

Born on Thursday Island, Elliott grew up in Townsville in far north
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_ ...
. Elliott played for
Bondi United The Bondi United Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1946 and is an Australian rugby league football club based in Bondi, New South Wales. The club is affiliated with the Sydney Roosters Juniors but they play in the South Sydney District J ...
and was an Eastern Suburbs Roosters lower grade player. He played two seasons with French club, Le Pontet, winning the league and cup double in 1987-88. Between 1989 and 1992 Elliott played 61 games for the St. George Dragons. At the end of the
1992 NSWRL season The 1992 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership season was the eighty-fifth season of professional rugby league football in Australia. Sixteen teams competed for the J.J. Giltinan Shield during the season which culminated in a grand final for ...
Elliott played for the Dragons off the bench in their
grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...
loss against the Brisbane Broncos.


Coaching career

Injury cut Elliotts playing career short and he became an assistant to Brian Smith at the Dragons.


Bradford Bulls

Elliott followed Smith to the Bradford Bulls in 1996, before taking over as head coach. Elliott won 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 ...
title in his first season. In 1997 and 1999 he was named the Super League coach of the Year. He coached the Bradford Bulls to the
1999 Super League Grand Final The 1999 Super League Grand Final was the Second official Grand Final conclusive and championship-deciding game of the Super League IV season. The match was played between St. Helens and Bradford Bulls on Saturday 9 October 1999, at Old Traffo ...
which was lost to St. Helens.


Canberra

After serving as assistant to Canberra Raiders coach Mal Meninga during the
2001 NRL season The 2001 NRL season was the 94th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the fourth run by the National Rugby League. Also called the 2001 Telstra Premiership (due to sponsorship from Telstra Corporation) it was contested b ...
, Elliott was made coach for the
2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
premiership. During his tenure at the Raiders, Canberra won 59 and drew one of their 125 games, including four finals appearances in five seasons. Elliott's most successful coaching season was
2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...
, when the Raiders won 16 of 24 games but were eliminated from the finals without winning a game.


Penrith

On 19 February 2006, it was announced that Elliott would coach the Penrith Panthers from 2007 onwards, having signed a three-year deal. Elliott succeeded John Lang in this position. In September 2008, Elliott was criticized for Penrith's consistent poor showings and it was speculated that he would be prematurely sacked before he saw through his three-year contract with the club. Elliott however defied the pressure and criticism and managed to convince the board into letting him remain in charge for the 2009 season. After a promising start to the 2009 season, Elliott's contract was extended to the end of the 2011 season. In the 2010 season, the Panthers finished second in the ladder, but they did not win a match in the finals series. Their 645 was the most points scored in the regular season, the second highest being 559. On 25 April 2011, Elliott was informed by the Penrith board that his services would not be required beyond 2011. He vowed to continue at the helm for the rest of the season at the time, then on 20 June announced his resignation with immediate effect. He is the current coach of the United States national side.Elliott to join Roosters coaching staff in 2012
''rleague.com'', 29 June 2011
Following the
2011 NRL season The 2011 NRL season was the 104th season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the fourteenth and last run by the National Rugby League's partnership committee of the Australian Rugby League and News Ltd. The NRL ...
Elliott coached the United States national rugby league team to a 40-4 victory over
Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
to qualify for the
2013 Rugby League World Cup The 2013 Rugby League World Cup was the fourteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup and took place in England, Wales, France and Ireland. between 26 October and 30 November 2013. It was the main event of the year's 2013 Festival of World ...
, their first ever. Matthew has served as head-coach of
USA Tomahawks The United States national rugby league team represents the United States in international rugby league football competitions. The team is managed by the USA Rugby League (USARL). The United States competed with little success in some internat ...
on three separate occasions, recording a 40-4 win against
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
in 2001, a 40-4 win v
Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
in 2011 and just one narrow 16-18 defeat to
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
on 18 Sep 2011.


Sydney Roosters

In 2012 Elliott served as Sydney Roosters assistant coach, again working under Brian Smith.


New Zealand Warriors

On 12 October 2012 Elliott was appointed head coach of 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 ...
for two seasons, replacing Brian McClennan who was sacked during the
2012 New Zealand Warriors season The New Zealand Warriors 2012 season is the New Zealand Warriors 18th first-grade season. The club is competing in Australasia's National Rugby League. The coach of the team was Brian McClennan, until he was sacked on 21 August after Round 22, whil ...
. He resigned as the USA coach before the
2013 Rugby League World Cup The 2013 Rugby League World Cup was the fourteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup and took place in England, Wales, France and Ireland. between 26 October and 30 November 2013. It was the main event of the year's 2013 Festival of World ...
, to concentrate on the Warriors' off season. On 7 April 2014, he was sacked from the Warriors.


St. George Illawarra Dragons

On September 28, 2020, it was announced that Elliott would be an Assistant coach to new Dragons Head Coach Anthony Griffin commencing in 2021.


Commentary career

From 2015 Elliott has been part of the ABC Radio Grandstand commentary team.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elliott, Matthew 1964 births Living people Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Australian rugby league players St. George Dragons players Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league commentators Canberra Raiders coaches Bradford Bulls coaches Penrith Panthers coaches New Zealand Warriors coaches Rugby league second-rows Rugby league players from Thursday Island United States national rugby league team coaches