Steve Edge is an Australian former

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 and 1980s. A New South Wales Blues representative he played in the

St. George Dragons The St. George Dragons is an Australian rugby league football club from St George District in Sydney, New South Wales that played in the top level New South Wales competition and Australian Rugby League competitions from the 1921 until th ...

' 14th and 15th grand final wins and captained 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 ...

to their 1st, 2nd and 3rd premierships. Regarded as one of the most successful captains under the limited tackle rule, Steve Edge played in a remarkable eleven grand finals in all grades during his career. He holds a unique record in Australian rugby league history as the only man to captain two clubs to

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 ...

premiership success.

Club career

St George Dragons Steve Edge was graded with the

St George Dragons The St. George Dragons is an Australian rugby league football club from St George District in Sydney, New South Wales that played in the top level New South Wales competition and Australian Rugby League competitions from the 1921 until th ...

in 1972 and that year played in the club's premiership winning third grade side. He became a regular first grader from 1974 and played in the 1975 Grand Final side that lost to the

Eastern Suburbs 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 ...

. Edge captained the 1977 Dragons' side, playing in the historic 1977 drawn Grand Final and subsequent replay victory the following week. Edge battled for his first grade spot in 1978 and 1979 but found his best form to play in Saints' 1979 Grand Final winning side captained by

Craig Young Craig Young (born 25 June 1956) is an Australian former representative rugby league footballer for the Australia national rugby league team, the New South Wales Blues and a stalwart player over 11 seasons from 1977 to 1988 with the St. Geor ...

. Parramatta Eels In 1980 Edge signed with the

under coach

Jack Gibson Jack Gibson may refer to: * Jack Gibson (rugby league) (1929–2008), Australian player and coach * Jack Stanley Gibson (1909–2005), Irish physician * Jack Gibson (ice hockey, born 1880) (1880–1955), ice hockey player and executive * Jack Gibs ...

and captained the Eels to three consecutive Grand Final wins from

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

. Edge was regarded as a fine on-field leader, never an overly flashy player with the ball. He had to overcome a serious eye injury (detached retina and punctured iris) to take his place in the 1984 Grand Final and retired after his club’s narrow 6-4 loss to the

Canterbury 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 ...

. In 1993, Edge was made a life member of the Parramatta club. In 2002, Edge was inducted into Parramatta's hall of fame.

Representative career

Edge toured New Zealand with a Combined Sydney side in 1976. He was selected as

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 ...

' Hooker in the inaugural

Rugby League State of Origin The State of Origin series is an annual best-of-three rugby league series between two Australian state representative sides, the New South Wales Blues and the Queensland Maroons. Referred to as “Australian sport's greatest rivalry”, the ...

of 1980.

References

External links

*http://www.showroom.com.au/dragons/dragonshistory Dragons History site *http://www.stateoforigin.com.au/soogame/PlayerDetails.aspx?Pid=121 State of Origin Player Detail {{DEFAULTSORT:Edge, Steve 1951 births Living people Australian rugby league players St. George Dragons players Parramatta Eels players New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players Rugby league hookers Rugby league players from Sydney