Rhys Hanbury (born 27 August 1985) 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 ...

footballer who last played for the

Widnes Vikings The Widnes Vikings are an English rugby league club in Widnes, Cheshire, which competes in the Betfred Championship. The club plays home matches at the Halton Stadium. Founded as Widnes Football Club, they are one of the original twenty-two rug ...

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 ...

. He previously played for the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional Rugby league, rugby league football team, based in the Inner West and South West Sydney. They have competed in the National Rugby League since being formed at the end of the 1999 NRL season as a j ...

in the

National Rugby League 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 ...

(NRL). Hanbury primarily plays at and can also operate as a . He played junior football with Illawarra Wests. Although he was expected to make his début for Crusaders against

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors are a professional rugby league club in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Super League. Formed in 1872 as Wigan Football Club, Wigan was a founding member of the Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby ...

on 5 February at the

DW Stadium The DW Stadium is a stadium in Robin Park, in Wigan, within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The ground is owned and managed by Wigan Football Company Limited, which is 85% owned by Wigan Athletic and 15% owned ...

, visa issues made him unavailable until 11 April match versus

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 ...

South Sydney Rabbitohs

Rhys made his first grade début 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 ...

against

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 ...

. He made just two appearances for the club, partaking in a loss and a draw. He was released and transferred to

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 ...

2008.

Wests Tigers

Rhys made his

début in a Round 2 fixture against

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 ...

. Star

Benji Marshall Benjamin Quentin Marshall (born 25 February 1985) is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer who played at or . He previously played for the Wests Tigers in two separate spells, St. George Illawarra Dragons, Brisbane Bro ...

was injured the round before but Hanbury nevertheless helped the Tigers to an emphatic 30-10 win. Hanbury made nineteen further appearances over the 2008 & 2009 seasons and in these appearances went over the try line four times. However the Tigers failed to make the NRL Finals both times and Hanbury signed for

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

for the 2010 season.

Crusaders RL

Hanbury enjoyed a successful

season in 2010. First picked on the bench against

, he scored his first two tries against

York City Knights The York Knights are the men's professional rugby league team of York RLFC (known as the York City Knights from 2002 to 2022) based in York, England. The Knights played their home games at Huntington Stadium before moving to Bootham Crescent. ...

in the Carnegie

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...

. Hanbury would finish the 2010 season joint top scorer with 12 tries; yet he had only twenty appearances, four less than joint top scorer

Vince Mellars Vincent "Vinny" Mellars (born 27 January 1984) is a New Zealand rugby league and rugby union footballer who plays in the Centres. He has previously played in the NRL, Super League and Air New Zealand Cup and in the RFL Championship for Feathe ...

. His 2011 season did not go to plan however. Plagued with injuries, he made just ten appearances with four tries. It was announced that he would move to

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census had a population of 61,464. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it is on t ...

for the 2012 season alongside team mates Lloyd White and

Frank Winterstein Frank Winterstein (born 17 December 1986) is a Samoa international rugby league footballer who plays as a forward for Toulouse Olympique in the Betfred Championship. Winterstein previously played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, Manly-W ...

after the Welsh club's withdrawal from

Widnes Vikings

Hanbury débuted for the Widnes Vikings in the first game of the season against

. An impressive kick put

Willie Isa Willie Isa (born 1 January 1989) is a Samoa international rugby league footballer who plays as a or er for the Wigan Warriors in the Betfred Super League. He previously played as a or er for the Penrith Panthers and Melbourne Storm in the NR ...

through to score but the

video referee Instant replay or action replay is a video reproduction of something that recently occurred which was both shot and broadcast live. The video, having already been shown live, is replayed in order for viewers to see again and analyze what had j ...

spotted a pull on Peter Fox by Patrick Ah Van and disallowed the try. Widnes would eventually lose the game. Rhys Hanbury scored consecutive points in rounds two and three - a goal against

Salford Red Devils The Salford Red Devils are a professional rugby league club in Salford, Greater Manchester, England, who play in the Super League. Formed in 1873, they have won six Championships and one Challenge Cup. Their home ground since 2012 has been t ...

and a try against newly crowned

World Club Challenge The World Club Challenge is an annual rugby league competition between the winners of the Australasian National Rugby League (NRL) and the European Super League, for the de facto club world championship of the sport. The first such match was pl ...

champions

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club was formed in 1870 as Leeds St John's and play in the Super League, the top tier of English rugby league. They have played home matches at Headi ...

. Hanbury helped Widnes to a 38-30 win over the

London Broncos The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club in London, England. The club competes in the RFL Championship. It was a member of Super League from its inaugural season in 1996 until the end of the 2014 season, when they were relegat ...

with his second Widnes try. His third was a consolation in a 38-4 defeat by the

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is predom ...

Career highlights

*''First Grade Debut'': 2004 - Round 9,

, 16 March *''

Debut'': 2008 -

, Round 2 *''First Try'': 2008 -

*''

Debut'': 2010 -

*''

Debut'': 2012 -

, Round 1

References

External links

Widnes Vikings profileRhys Hanbury at ''Wests Tigers''Balmain TigersSL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hanbury, Rhys 1985 births Living people Australian rugby league players Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Balmain Ryde-Eastwood Tigers players Crusaders Rugby League players Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league halfbacks Rugby league players from Wollongong Rugby league wingers South Sydney Rabbitohs players Wests Tigers players Widnes Vikings players