Luke O'Dwyer (born 30 January 1983) is a 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

Gold Coast Titans The Gold Coast Titans are a professional rugby league football club, based on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership, Australia's elite rugby league competition. Since 2008, the ...

and

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 (NRL). The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and ...

in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

competition. A utility player, O'Dwyer played at centre, five-eighth, second row and lock at different times during his career.

Playing career

Raised in the southern Gold Coast town of

Tweed Heads Tweed Heads is a coastal city at the mouth of the Tweed River in the Northern Rivers region of the state of New South Wales, Australia. Tweed Heads is the northernmost town in New South Wales, and is located in the Tweed Shire local government ...

, O'Dwyer played his junior football for the

Tweed Heads Seagulls The Tweed Heads Seagulls, often referred to simply as Tweed or Seagulls or Tweed Seagulls, is a rugby league club based in Tweed Heads, New South Wales. It is one of only two club teams based outside of Queensland to play in the Queensland C ...

. While playing for Seagulls, he caught the eye of the

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 ...

coach, Brian Smith. O'Dwyer made his first grade debut for the Eels in 2004, coming off the bench in their round 1, 26–18, victory over 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 ...

. He played three seasons at Parramatta including the

2005 NRL season The 2005 NRL season was the 98th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the eighth run by the National Rugby League. The lineup of clubs remained unchanged from the previous year, with fifteen teams contesting the 2005 Tels ...

where the club won the

Minor Premiership A minor premiership is the title given to the team which finishes a sporting competition first in the league standings after the regular season but prior to commencement of the finals in several Australian sports leagues. Origins The etymolo ...

, before getting the chance to move back home to play for the newly formed

. A member of their inaugural squad, O'Dwyer became a regular in the side, playing over 100 games for the club. O'Dwyer missed the club's 2009 and 2010 finals appearances through injury and was also part of the

Wooden Spoon A wooden spoon is a Kitchen utensil, utensil commonly used in food preparation. In addition to its culinary uses, wooden spoons also feature in folk art and culture. History The word ''spoon'' derives from an ancient word meaning a chip of woo ...

team of 2011.

Personal life

O'Dwyer is married to wife, Kara, and they have three sons, Jax, Zave and Krue. Since 2006, in O'Dwyer's home town of

, the two local primary schools, St. Joseph's Primary and St. James' Primary, compete for the annual O'Dwyer Shield. The O'Dwyer Shield is named in memory of Luke O'Dwyer's younger brother, Ryan, who lost his battle against leukaemia in 1998. Ryan was a student at St. Joseph's at the time, while Luke O'Dwyer attended both schools during his youth. The O'Dwyer Shield is an important event in the Tweed Heads community with the Titans being involved every year. In 2010, St. Mary's Primary Casino filled in as a late minute inclusion for St. Joseph's who were unable to play in the match.

References

External links

*
Luke O'Dwyer
at the

official website.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Odwyer, Luke 1983 births Living people Australian rugby league players Gold Coast Titans players Parramatta Eels players Rugby league centres Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Griffith, New South Wales Rugby league second-rows Tweed Heads Seagulls players 21st-century Australian sportsmen