Corey Hughes (born 17 February 1978) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. A City New South Wales representative , he played in the National Rugby League (NRL) for Canterbury-Bankstown and Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks. Corey Hughes is the youngest brother of former Bulldogs players,

Glen Hughes Glen Hughes is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. He played for Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, Canterbury-Bankstown as a and , winning the 1995 ARL Premiership with them, also scoring ...

and Steven Hughes. He is the son of former Canterbury five-eighth,

Garry Hughes Garry Hughes (b. 29 October 1952) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. He played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs. He is the brother of Graeme Hughes and Mark Hughes. They played ...

Background

Hughes 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

Hughes made his first grade debut for Canterbury in round 8 of the

1998 NRL season 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

against the Adelaide Rams at Belmore Oval, scoring a try during a 30-4 victory. In the

, Hughes played 15 games as Canterbury finished 9th on the table and qualified for the finals. Canterbury proceeded to make the 1998 NRL Grand Final after winning 4 sudden death elimination matches in a row including the club's famous preliminary final victory over rivals Parramatta which is considered to be one of the greatest comebacks of all time. After being 18-2 down with less than 10 minutes remaining, Canterbury scored 3 tries to take the game into extra-time before winning the match 32-20. The following week, Hughes played for Canterbury at in their loss at the 1998 NRL grand final to the Brisbane Broncos. In the

2002 NRL season The 2002 NRL season was the 95th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the fifth to be run by the National Rugby League. The season was affected by the competition-leading Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs' salary cap breach fi ...

, Hughes played 24 games as the club went undefeated through most of the year winning their first 16 games. It was then revealed that Canterbury had exceeded the NRL's salary cap by $2 million over 3 years including undisclosed payments made to players. As a result, the NRL fined Canterbury $500,000 and stripped them of all their 37 competition points meaning that the club would finish the 2002 season with the wooden spoon. He played for Canterbury from the interchange bench in their

2004 NRL Grand Final The 2004 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2004 NRL season. It was contested by the Sydney Roosters, who had finished the regular season in 1st place, and the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, who had finished ...

victory over cross-town rivals, the Sydney Roosters. As 2004 NRL premiers, the Canterbury faced Super League IX champions, the Leeds Rhinos in the

2005 World Club Challenge The year 2005 Carnegie World Club Challenge was contested by Super League IX champions Leeds Rhinos and 2004 NRL season premiers, the Bulldogs. The match was played on 4 February at Elland Road, Leeds before 37,208 spectators. Australian Sean Hamp ...

. Hughes played at half back in the Canterbury's 32-39 loss. In 2005, Hughes was involved in a brawl at the Kembla Grange Racecourse after being taunted by opposition supporters.Sydney Morning Herald, 25 October 2005. Story: "Bulldogs in the doghouse again"
/ref> He was fined by the Canterbury club but refused to pay it. Hughes signed a one-year deal with the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks for 2009 and retired at the end of the year.

References

External links

NRL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, Corey 1978 births Living people Australian rugby league players Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks players

Corey Corey is a masculine given name and a surname. It is a masculine version of name Cora, which has Greek origins and is the maiden name of the goddess Persephone. The name also can have origins from the Gaelic word ''coire'', which means "in a cau ...

New South Wales City Origin rugby league team players Rugby league hookers Rugby league players from Sydney Sportsmen from New South Wales