Paul "Diddy" Dan (born 1985) is a

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 ...

player hailing from

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle ( ; Awabakal: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas, and is the hub of the Greater Newcastle area, w ...

Career

Rising to prominence through St Francis Xavier College under the tutelage of Mark Wright, Dan played first grade for the Hamilton Hawks as a teenager and was selected in the

New South Wales Waratahs The New South Wales Waratahs ( or ;), referred to as the Waratahs, are an Australian professional rugby union team representing the majority of New South Wales in the Super Rugby competition. The Riverina and other southern parts of the state, ...

junior teams. Observers noted that Dan was unlucky to miss selection in the junior Australian team, however he moved to Sydney to pursue his career and played first grade for the Manly Marlins in the

Tooheys New Cup {{Use dmy dates, date=November 2019 The Tooheys New Cup, or TNC, was a rugby union competition established by the New South Wales Rugby Union (NSWRU) in 2002. Played in the second half of the rugby season after the Super 12 competition was comple ...

. After a devastating hamstring kept him out of rugby for over a year, Dan returned to Newcastle in 2007 where he led the Hamilton Hawks to lose the NHRU grand final. In 2008 Dan played number ten for both Newcastle and NSW Country, leading the latter to the Australian Country Rugby Championships. He also won a Grand Final with Hamilton in 2008, defeating University in the decider.

References

Living people Australian rugby union players 1985 births Place of birth missing (living people) Sportspeople from Newcastle, New South Wales {{Australia-rugbyunion-bio-stub