David "Cement" Gillespie (born 22 March 1964) 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 11 ...

footballer who played as a and forward in the 1980s and 1990s. Gillespie played for the

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 facilit ...

Western Suburbs Magpies The Western Suburbs Magpies (legal name: Western Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club Ltd) are an Australian rugby league football club based in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Formed in 1908, Wests, as they are commonly r ...

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rugb ...

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 for the

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

national side.

Early life

Gilliespie was born in

Narromine, New South Wales Narromine ( /næroʊmaɪn/) is a rural Australian town located approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) west of Dubbo in the Orana region of New South Wales. The town is at the centre of Narromine Shire. The 2016 census recorded a population of ...

, Australia.

Professional career

Gillespie joined Sydney club Canterbury-Bankstown in 1983 and played reserve grade that year. He made his first grade début in the 1984 season. His defence was critical to Canterbury's retention of the title against a favoured St. George side in 1985, the Bulldogs winning the Grand Final 7–6 with Gillespie coming off the bench after having scored a rare try in their 26–nil win over

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

in the preliminary final. The following year Gillespie was chosen play for New South Wales as a replacement in the opening State of Origin. He was favoured to tour England and France with the

Kangaroos Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

before severing his index finger in a horrible work accident, which ended his season on the eve of the 1986 finals, where the Bulldogs would eventually lose to Parramatta in the 4–2 Grand Final. 1987 saw two suspensions (in one of which he was sent off on the first tackle of a match against Balmain) resulted in Gillespie missing over a third of his season. He played for English side Hunslet during the 1987–88 Rugby Football League season. Returning to Australia "Cement" came back stronger in 1988 and capped off his season by scoring a try in Canterbury's 24–12 Grand Final victory over Balmain and was subsequently chosen for Australia in the World Cup final against New Zealand. In 1990, Gillespie finally established himself as a regular representative player with powerful displays for New South Wales and in the Test against France in

Parkes Parkes may refer to: * Sir Henry Parkes (1815–1896), Australian politician, one of the earliest and most prominent advocates for Australian federation Named for Henry Parkes * Parkes, New South Wales, a regional town * Parkes Observatory, a radi ...

. At the end of the 1990 NSWRL season, he went on the 1990 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France and played in three more tests on tour. He placed himself in the draft and was chosen by Western Suburbs, where he was re-united with former Bulldogs Coach

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 ...

who was now in charge of the Magpies. Now a mainstay in the National side, Gillespie's high work rate was a vital part of two big wins against New Zealand in 1991 and against Great Britain during the

1992 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand The 1992 Great Britain Lions tour of Australasia was a tour by the Great Britain national rugby league team, nicknamed the 'Lions', of Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand which took place between May and July 1992. The tour was the last of ...

, helping Australia retain

The Ashes The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, '' The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, its first ...

. 1993 saw Gillespie fall out with the Magpies for 1994 and he would sign with Manly and consequently play under Australian coach Bob Fulton. However, the quicker 10-metre rule made his play – based on workrate – less effective and he lost in place in the NSW team after one match. In 1995, Gillespie was an integral part of a Manly team that threatened to march through the season undefeated. The Sea Eagles won their first fifteen matches before losing controversially to Sydney City in a match where Roosters’ coach (and Gillespie’s former premiership mentor) Phil Gould threatened a walk-off with his team leading.Middleton, David (editor); ''Rugby League'', 1996 (9th edition), p. 135 The Sea Eagles would go into the Grand Final with a record of 22 wins and 2 losses but lost 17–4 to Gillespie’s former Canterbury-Bankstown club. He would play for Australia for the final time that season against New Zealand. Gillespie would taste premiership success for a second time when he played in Manly's 20–8 1996 Grand Final win over St. George, but would retire the following season after the Sea Eagles’ last-second 22–16 loss to

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

in the isolated 1997 ARL Grand Final.

References

External links

David Gillespie at stateoforigin.com.au

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gillespie, David 1964 births Living people Australian rugby league players Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players Australia national rugby league team players Western Suburbs Magpies players Country New South Wales rugby league team players Country New South Wales Origin rugby league team players Manly Warringah Sea Eagles players Hunslet R.L.F.C. players Rugby league players from New South Wales Rugby league second-rows Rugby league props