Paul Galea (born 19 February 1970) 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. Primarily a , he played for the

Gold Coast Seagulls The Gold Coast Chargers were a professional rugby league club which played in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership from 1988 to 1994, the Australian Rugby League premiership from 1995 to 1997, and the National Rugby League premiership ...

and was a foundation player for 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 ...

Background

Originally from

Moranbah, Queensland Moranbah is a coal mining town and locality in the Isaac Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Moranbah had a population of 8,735 people. In addition to the permanent population, Moranbah also has a large fly-in fly-out popula ...

, Galea played for the Mackay Magpies and was selected in the Australian Schoolboys under-15 merit side in 1985. His younger brother

Brett Brett derives from a Middle English surname meaning "Briton" or "Breton", referring to the Celtic people of Britain and Brittany, France. Brette can be a feminine name. People with the surname * Adrian Brett (born 1945) English flutist and writer ...

played first grade for the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club Ltd., commonly referred to as the Broncos, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos play in Australia's elite com ...

and

Adelaide Rams The Adelaide Rams were an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Adelaide, South Australia. The team was formed in 1995 for the planned rebel Super League competition. The Rams lasted two seasons, the first in the Super Le ...

Playing career

In 1992, Galea joined the

after playing for the

Fortitude Valley 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 ...

. In Round 4 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 ...

, he made his first grade debut in a 20–0 loss to the

Cronulla Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Cronulla, in the Sutherland Shire, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugby league ...

. He spent three seasons with the Gold Coast, playing 18 games, scoring one try. In 1995, Galea joined the newly formed

, and started at lock in their inaugural game. In his first season with the Cowboys, he played 19 games, scoring four tries, and won the club's Club Person of the Year award. Galea played just six games for the Cowboys over the following two seasons, leaving the club at the end of the 1997 season.

Achievements and accolades

Individual

* North Queensland Cowboys Club Person of the Year: 1995

Statistics

NSWRL/ARL/Super League

Post-playing career

In 2010, while coaching the Mackay Magpies under-11 side, Galea was banned from coaching junior rugby league for two-and-a-half years after punching an official.Galea's punch lands juniors ban
''Daily Mercury'', 4 June 2010

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Galea, Paul 1970 births Living people Australian rugby league players Gold Coast Chargers players North Queensland Cowboys players Fortitude Valley Diehards players Rugby league centres Rugby league second-rows Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Mackay, Queensland People from Moranbah