Peter Tunks (born 30 August 1958) 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 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

ed in the 1990s. He played for the

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 ...

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilita ...

Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith that competes in the NRL. The team is based west of the centre of Sydney, at the foot of the Blue Mountains. Penrith ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, and the Australian national side. After that he played with a number of clubs in England. Tunks finished in the top eight at the Rothmans Medal six times in his career, and was also voted the best in world rugby league twice in the 1980s.

Background

Tunks is a product of

Marcellin College Randwick , motto_translation = The Eternal, not the Transitory , established = , type = Independent single-sex secondary day school , gender = Boys , denomination = Roman Catholicism , religious_affiliation = Marist Brothers , affiliations = Ass ...

. Regarded as one of the best rugby league players to come out of this school, Tunks also represented NSW at rugby union as a schoolboy in 1976.

Playing career

Graded with Souths in 1977, Tunks made his debut that year as a front row forward at eighteen years of age. Tunks narrowly missed selection for the

1978 Kangaroo tour The 1978 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France comprised the Australia national rugby league team's fourteenth tour of Great Britain and ninth tour of France, and took place from September to December 1978. Coached by Frank Stanton and captai ...

when he was voted one of the top rookies of the year. In the off season Tunks contracted glandular fever, hepatitis and a kidney disease and missed part of the 1979 season. Tunks made his State of Origin début in 1981, the same year he led South Sydney to victory in the Panasonic Cup, scoring the winning try. In 1982 Tunks was told he would be touring with the Kangaroos but was not taken due to off field indiscretions. In 1984 Tunks left Souths and went to Canterbury-Bankstown where

Warren Ryan Warren Redman Ryan (born 27 October 1941) is an Australian former professional rugby league football coach and player. He is considered one of the most influential rugby league coaches of the 20th century. Ryan also played in the NSWRFL Premie ...

built a team around Tunks and Peter Kelly as prop forwards to create a style of play known as "Wozzaball", with the team nicknamed "The Enforcers" due to the power of their defence, which at the end of the 1984 season conceded just a solitary penalty goal in almost four complete games. With both Souths and Canterbury, Tunks would frequently run wide of the ruck, so that his try tally was unusually large for a front row forward. Tunks played in four grand finals in five seasons for the Bulldogs, winning three. He toured New Zealand in 1985 with the Kangaroos and was voted player of the tour ahead of

Wally Lewis Walter James Lewis AM (born 1 December 1959) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and coached in the 1980s and 1990s. He became a commentator for television coverage of the spo ...

Mal Meninga Malcolm Norman Meninga (; born 8 July 1960) is an Australian professional rugby league coach who is the head coach of the Australian national team and a former professional rugby league footballer. Meninga is widely regarded as one of the fin ...

, Peter Sterling and others. In 1986, Tunks refused to tour with the Kangaroos and he also refused to make himself available for the 1988 World Cup Final against New Zealand the week after he captained Canterbury to the premiership. Tunks played ten State of Origin games but was selected in sixteen – missing some games due to injury. Tunks played Origin in 1985 when NSW won it for the first time and then played all 3 games in 1986 when NSW won the series 3–nil for the first time in Origin history. Tunks played left-, i.e. number 8, in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

' 14–15 defeat by St. Helens in the 1987–88 John Player Special Trophy Final during the 1987–88 season at

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on Saturday 9 January 1988. In 1990, Tunks followed Phil Gould to Penrith but caught glandular fever and retired halfway through the season. He went to England where he had a successful coaching stint for three seasons with Oldham was then appointed

Chief Executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Wakefield Trinity Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, that plays in the Super League. One of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895, between 1999 and 2016 the c ...

and then

Managing Director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Hull FC Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league football club established in 1865 and based in West Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the Super League competition and wer ...

Club list

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 ...

1985-87:10 games including 6 Tests (0pts) *

1981-87:10 games 1 try (3pts) * South Sydney 1977-83: 98 games - 31t (86pts) *

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

1984-89: 125 games - 17t (56pts) * Penrith 1990: 12 games (0pts) *

RLFC 1987-88: 24 games 7 tries *

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

RLFC 1990-91: 14 games 4 tries *

Sheffield Eagles The Sheffield Eagles are a professional rugby league club that play in the Championship (rugby league), Betfred Championship. The club play their home games at the Olympic Legacy Park (OLP) on the former site of Don Valley Stadium, their forme ...

RLFC 1991: 16 games 4 tries

References

Sources

*Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players, Canterbury-Bankstown edition by Alan Whiticker & Glen Hudson

External links

Canterbury Bulldogs profile

Peter Tunks at stateoforigin.com.au
*(archived by web.archive.org

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tunks, Peter 1958 births Living people Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league administrators Australian rugby league players Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs captains Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players City New South Wales rugby league team players Leeds Rhinos players New South Wales City Origin rugby league team players New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players Oldham R.L.F.C. coaches Penrith Panthers players Rugby league props Rugby league second-rows Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Sydney Sheffield Eagles (1984) players South Sydney Rabbitohs players