David Thompson (born 17 March 1978) is an Australian former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who played for the

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilitated by ...

North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest city in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). Sinc ...

and the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney District Rugby League Football Club, also known as the South Sydney Rabbitohs, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra, New South Wales, Maroubra that competes in the Nat ...

Background

Thompson was born in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, New South Wales, Australia.

Playing career

Thompson made his first grade debut for Canterbury-Bankstown in round 17 of the

1998 NRL season The 1998 NRL season was the 91st season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the inaugural season of the newly formed National Rugby League (NRL). After the 1997 season, in which the Australian Rugby League and Super League (Au ...

against South Sydney scoring a try in a 30–8 victory at the

Sydney Football Stadium Sydney Football Stadium may refer to: * Sydney Football Stadium (1988), the original stadium which was demolished in 2019. * Sydney Football Stadium (2022) Sydney Football Stadium, currently known as Allianz Stadium for sponsorship reasons, i ...

. Canterbury finished the regular season in 9th place on the table and qualified for the finals. The club went on to win three sudden death matches in a row including the preliminary final over archrivals

Parramatta Parramatta (; ) is a suburb (Australia), suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney. Parramatta is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, on the banks of the Parramatta River. It is co ...

. Parramatta led the match 18–2 with less than 10 minutes of the game left when Canterbury staged one of the greatest comebacks in finals history, scoring three tries to level the match at 18-18. Canterbury then went on to win the game 32–20 in extra-time. He was part of the Canterbury side who lost the 1998 NRL Grand Final to the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...

. Over the next three years, Thompson only played seven games for Canterbury and he later joined

North Queensland North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its Tropical North Queensland, trop ...

for 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 f ...

. Thompson spent two years at North Queensland where the club missed the finals. In 2004, he joined South Sydney and played one season at the club where they finished last on the table.

References

External links

Canterbury Bulldogs profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, David 1978 births Living people Australian rugby league players Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players North Queensland Cowboys players Rugby league props Rugby league players from Sydney South Sydney Rabbitohs players