Ryan O'Hara (born 18 August 1980) is a former 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 played for the

Jacksonville Axemen The Jacksonville Axemen are a semi-professional rugby league team based in Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. They currently play in the USA Rugby League (USARL). They play their home games at the North Practice Soccer Fields at the University of North F ...

in the

USA Rugby League The USA Rugby League (USARL) is the official governing body for rugby league, a code of rugby football, in the United States. The organization also runs the national amateur competition for club teams in the US. The league consists of six te ...

. 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 Oval ...

representative forward, he previously played in the

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 ...

for the

Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby ...

and 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 ...

. He played as a .

Background

O'Hara was born in

Sydney, New South Wales 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 Mountains ...

, Australia.

Playing career

Hunter Mariners The Hunter Mariners were an Australian professional rugby league club based in the Hunter Region's largest city, Newcastle. Hunter was formed in mid-1995 and was later disbanded at the end of 1997. The club was formed because of the Super Leag ...

junior, O'Hara made his NRL début as a 20-year-old and won the Canberra Raiders' ''Rookie of the Year'' award in 2001. He made his representative début for Country in the City v Country Origin match of 2003. The following year he was selected to represent

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 ...

in Game I of the

2004 State of Origin series The 2004 State of Origin series was the 23rd time that the annual three-game series between the Queensland and New South Wales representative rugby league football teams was contested entirely under 'state of origin' selection rules. A pre-serie ...

. In his first four seasons with the Raiders, he played in 92 games, but only made 3 appearances in 2005. Having joined the premiership-winning Wests Tigers at the close of the

2005 NRL season The 2005 NRL season was the 98th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the eighth run by the National Rugby League. The lineup of clubs remained unchanged from the previous year, with fifteen teams contesting the 2005 Telst ...

, O'Hara first played for them in the

2006 World Club Challenge The 2006 World Club Challenge was a Rugby league match held on Friday, 3 February 2006, at Galpharm Stadium, Huddersfield, UK. The game was contested by Bradford Bulls and Wests Tigers. Qualification Bradford Bulls Bradford Bulls qualified for ...

loss to

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 ...

in England. He was bought by coach

Tim Sheens Tim Sheens (born 30 October 1950) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach and former player. Head Coach of the Australia national team between 2009 and 2015, he has also been the head coach of National Rugby League (NRL) clubs ...

to add some size to the small Wests Tigers pack and was a regular in first grade in 2006, playing in 22 games. For the next two seasons he managed just eight appearances, and was later described as one of the worst buys in NRL history. He played four games straight in 2007, all victories, before having his jaw broken. He returned to lower grades towards the end of the season, before having his jaw broken again at the start of 2008, and didn't return to first grade until round 22. At the end of the

2008 NRL season The 2008 NRL season was the 101st season of professional rugby league club competition in Australia, and the eleventh run by the National Rugby League. For the second year, National Rugby League teams, sixteen teams competed for the 2008 Telstr ...

O'Hara moved to Wales to play 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 ...

for the Crusaders. He spent three seasons at the club before joining Hull KR. O'Hara played 15 games for Hull in 2012, but suffered an

Achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcaneus (h ...

injury in the 2013 pre-season. Months later he was still described as being out indefinitely, and made no further appearances for the club. Announcing his departure to

Lézignan Sangliers Lézignan may refer to: In geography: * Lézignan, Hautes-Pyrénées, a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department, France * Lézignan-Corbières, a commune in the Aude department, France * Lézignan-la-Cèbe Lézignan-la-Cèbe (; oc, Lesinhan ...

, O'Hara said, "I've had a good time in England and Wales for the last five seasons. My two years here at Hull KR have been quite upsetting for me though because of the injuries I've had. That’s nobody’s fault, just bad luck really." Later in 2014, O'Hara joined

The Entrance Tigers The Entrance Tigers are a rugby league club based at The Entrance, New South Wales, Australia.They are competing in the 2022 Denton Engineering Cup (NSWRL Presidents Cup Northern Conference) & Central Coast Division Rugby League. They have prev ...

in the

Ron Massey Cup The Ron Massey Cup (formerly known as the Bundaberg Red Cup and Jim Beam Cup) is a semi-professional development level rugby league competition in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, run jointly by the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) and the ...

, co-captaining them to a grand final victory.

Highlights

*''First Grade Debut:'' Round 3, Canberra v Cronulla at Toyota Park, 3 March 2001. *''State of Origin:'' Selected for New South Wales, in game I of the 2004 State of Origin series.

References

External links

Crusaders profileRyan O'Hara at ''NRL.com''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ohara, Ryan 1980 births Living people Australian rugby league players Canberra Raiders players Country New South Wales Origin rugby league team players Crusaders Rugby League players Hull Kingston Rovers players Jacksonville Axemen players Lézignan Sangliers players New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players Rugby league props Wests Tigers players People educated at St Peter's Catholic College, Tuggerah