Tony Priddle 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 1990s.

Playing career

Priddle came to the St. George Dragons from Maclean, New South Wales in 1990. He played six seasons at St. George between 1990-1995 as a Prop forward. He played in two grand finals for St. George Dragons in

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

and

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

. Priddle retired after completing the 1995 season. After leaving St. George at the end of the

1995 ARL season The 1995 ARL premiership was the 88th season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the first to be run by the Australian Rugby League following the hand-over of the Premiership's administration by the New South Wales Rugby Leagu ...

, Priddle signed with the rival Super League competition during the Super League war. He later played reserve grade for Canterbury-Bankstown and the Burleigh Bears. Priddle also spent one season playing

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. In 2019, Priddle spoke about his time during those years saying "Yes, the Dragons went with the ARL but I had a meeting with Lachlan Murdoch and he explained his 'vision' for the game ... and offered to triple my salary. About that time I was having arguments with Smithy - my form was poor and I wasn't doing what he wanted out there - so with all that, it made signing with Super League an easy decision. I copped some flak but not from the players - they understood". "Not many people would ever know it, but I went to Canterbury. I played three reserve grade games in 1997, then did my knee and was out for the year. The next year they sent me to play for Paris, which was a great experience, but we got relegated and I didn't have a club anymore. For the final year of my Super League deal, Super League let me play for the Burleigh Bears. I was on $200,000 ... I think that made me the highest-paid player in the Queensland Cup by a fair way (laughs). I stayed another two years after that before hanging up the boots and getting a real job. My wage went from $200K to $32K, so it was a reality check to say the least ... I can see why a lot of players struggle post-football".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Priddle, Tony St. George Dragons players Australian rugby league players 1970 births Living people Rugby league props Rugby league players from New South Wales