Paul Dunn (born 7 August 1963) 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 1980s and 1990s. A New South Wales

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 ...

and Australian international representative forward, he played club football in Sydney for

Eastern Suburbs Eastern Suburbs may refer to: Places *Eastern Suburbs (Mumbai), India *Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Australia **Eastern Suburbs railway line, Sydney, Australia Sports clubs ;Association football *Eastern Suburbs AFC, Auckland, New Zealand * Eastern ...

Canterbury-Bankstown Canterbury-Bankstown is a customary region of Sydney, Australia, in the south-western suburbs. The area is located around the Bankstown railway line, to the west of the St George region and to the south of the Inner West region. The suburbs ...

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

and Penrith.

Background

Dunn was born in the small town of

Molong Molong is a small town in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia, in Cabonne Shire. History The name Molong comes from the Aboriginal word for 'all rocks'. William Lee of Kelso is said to have had cattle in the area by 1819. ...

in central-west New South Wales. He later grew up in both

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

and Bathurst. Dunn moved to

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 Mountain ...

at the age of 19, where he played one season with Bondi United.

Professional playing career

In 1983, Dunn began his first-grade career in the NSWRL premiership with Sydney's Eastern Suburbs club, where he played for two years before moving to the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, playing 100 games for the club over five seasons. At the end of the 1986 NSWRL season, he was selected to represent his country on the

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 ...

. A major player and staff change at Canterbury prompted a move to the Penrith Panthers in 1991, where Dunn spent two years before moving to the

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 ...

. He retired at the end of 1995 before returning for one year to his first club, the newly re-branded

Sydney City 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 New S ...

. In

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

, Dunn was the recipient of the

Clive Churchill Medal The Clive Churchill Medal is the award given to the player judged to be man-of-the-match in the National Rugby League's annual Grand Final. The award was created to honour Clive Churchill, one of the greatest rugby league players in Australian ...

for his man-of-the-match performance at in the

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 ...

-winning Canterbury team. Dunn also won another premiership with Penrith in

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

. Following this grand final victory, he travelled with the Panthers to England for the

1991 World Club Challenge The 1991 World Club Challenge (marketed as the Foster's World Club Challenge due to sponsorship from the brewer) was contested by 1990–91 RFL Championship winners, Wigan and 1991 NSWRL season premiers, the Penrith Panthers. The match was play ...

which was lost to Wigan. Dunn also played in the City Firsts side in 1985 and 1986, and the City Origin side in 1987 and 1990, due to having played his last year of junior football for Bondi United, a Sydney-based club. He also played in the Country Origin sides of 1988, 1989 and 1991 because of his country roots. Dunn played one

game for New South Wales in 1988, and two games in 1989, along with seven Tests and five

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

matches for Australia between 1986 and 1988, but found it hard to press for further representative honours in an era dominated by powerful forwards including Steve Roach,

David Gillespie David "Cement" Gillespie (born 22 March 1964) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a and forward in the 1980s and 1990s. Gillespie played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, Western Suburbs Magpies, ...

Paul Harragon Paul William Harragon OAM (born 12 October 1968) nicknamed Chief or Chief Harragon is an Australian rugby league football identity. A former Australian international and New South Wales State of Origin representative forward, he played rugby ...

Paul Sironen Paul Sironen (born 23 May 1965) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer of Finnish descent who was a prominent Second-row forward for the Balmain Tigers during the late 1980s, and early 1990s. He was part of the team that ...

and John Cartwright.

Post-playing career

In 2000, Dunn was awarded the

Australian Sports Medal The Australian Sports Medal is an award given to recognise achievements in Australian sport to commemorate Australian participation in major sporting events. Original recipients of the award included competitors, coaches, sports scientists, offi ...

for his contribution to Australia's international standing in rugby league. Appointed the chief executive of the newly re-instituted

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian 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 pla ...

, Dunn departed the club after its disappointing return season of 2002 due to unrest within the organisation. In 2008, Dunn was appointed to the club board of Canterbury-Bankstown. The following year, the Bulldogs reached the preliminary final after narrowly missing the minor premiership. In 2010, he was made deputy chairman of the club.

References

External links

Paul Dunn at stateoforigin.com.auCanterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunn, Paul 1963 births Living people Australia national rugby league team players Australian chief executives Australian rugby league administrators Australian rugby league players Clive Churchill Medal winners Country New South Wales Origin rugby league team players City New South Wales rugby league team players Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players Penrith Panthers players Parramatta Eels players New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players Rugby league players from New South Wales Rugby league props Sydney Roosters players