Samuel Arthur Thaiday is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played for the Brisbane Broncos in the National Rugby League, serving as their captain from 2012 until 2013. An Australian international and Queensland State of Origin representative second-row, he can also play prop and lock as well as hooker and spent all of his career at the Broncos, with whom he won the 2006 premiership. In 2008, Australia's centenary of rugby league and Thaiday's sixth year at the top level, he was one of only three current players to be named in the Indigenous Australian rugby league team of the century. On 6 July 2018, Thaiday announced his intention to retire from the NRL at the end of the 2018 season.
Chris Sandow is an Indigenous Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a goal-kicking halfback or five-eighth, he could also play as a fullback.
The 2008 Rugby League World Cup featured the national teams of ten nations: Australia, England, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, France, Scotland, Ireland, Samoa, and Tonga.
The Indigenous Australian rugby league team is a rugby league football team that represents Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders. The team was first formed in 1973 and currently plays in an annual All Stars Match against a National Rugby League NRL All Stars team.
The Rugby League All Stars Match of the National Rugby League is an annual rugby league football match between the specially-formed Indigenous All Stars and an All Stars team, both of whose members are made available for selection public vote. The game has been played since 2010 at a variety of venues across Australia. The player judged man-of-the-match is awarded the Preston Campbell Medal, named after indigenous Gold Coast player, Preston Campbell. Between 2010 and 2015, the Indigenous All Stars opponent was an NRL All Stars team, they were replaced for 2016 by a World All Stars team.
The 2010 All Stars Match was the first time the event was held. The match was a pre season game between representative teams, Indigenous Australians versus the best in the National Rugby League and took place at the Gold Coast's Skilled Park on 13 February 2010. The Indigenous team featured 20 players of aboriginal descent chosen by public votes. Preston Campbell was selected automatically as Indigenous captain. The NRL All Stars featured one player from each of the 16 NRL teams as well as the Australian and New Zealand captains and deputy captains. Along with other rule changes exclusive to the match, the game trialled a new "Double Try" rule where a team can choose to swap a conversion attempt for a second try attempt.
The NRL All Stars team was a rugby league football team made up of professional players in the National Rugby League. These players were selected by fan vote. However, fans were only allowed to select one player from each NRL team to join the Australian rugby league team captain and the New Zealand national rugby league team captain. Two other players were selected by the NRL All Stars coach. This team played in the annual NRL All Stars Game against the Indigenous All Stars. They were replaced in 2016 by a World All Stars.
The 2011 All Stars Match was the second of the annual representative exhibition match played between the Indigenous All Stars and the NRL All Stars which was held on the 12 of February 2011 at the Gold Coast's Skilled Park. The game was won by the NRL All Stars 28–12, claiming their first annual title. Canberra Raiders fullback Josh Dugan won the Preston Campbell medal for Man of the Match. Preceding game included a Women's All Stars exhibition match which was won by the NRL Women's All Stars 22-6.
The 2012 All Stars Match was the third of the annual representative exhibition matches played between the Indigenous All Stars and the NRL All Stars team which was held on 4 February 2012 at the Gold Coast's Skilled Park.
The 2013 All Stars Match was the fourth of the annual representative exhibition matches played between the Indigenous All Stars and the NRL All Stars team which was held on 9 February 2013. Once again the players were selected through a voting scheme which over 40,000 fans polled their selections over the two online voting stages. Final stage voting for both sides were closed on the midnight 14 January. After the success of the previous three events the match was moved from Gold Coast's Skilled Park to the larger capacity Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane. The Indigenous All Stars won the match 32–6 to even the ledger with two wins from the four games played so far. Both Ben Barba and Reece Robinson became the first players to score a hat-trick in an All Stars match. The preceding game included a Women's All Stars exhibition match which was won by the NRL Women's All Stars 22-6.
The 2014 Anzac Test was a rugby league test match played between Australia and New Zealand at Allianz Stadium in Sydney on 2 May 2014. It was the 15th Anzac Test played between the two nations since the first was played under the Super League banner in 1997. It was also the first Test match played in Sydney since the 2010 Four Nations tournament. A Women's All Stars Match which is the Women's rugby league version of the game was played as the main curtain raiser for the Test, which was won 24-0 by the Women's All Stars.
Chris Grevsmuhl is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who previously played for the Gold Coast Titans, Penrith Panthers and the South Sydney Rabbitohs. An Indigenous All Stars representative, he plays at second-row and prop.
The 2016 All Stars match was the sixth annual representative exhibition All Stars match. For the first time, the match was played between the Indigenous All Stars and a World All Stars team.
The Qld Murri Carnival is an annual four-day rugby league carnival for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Queensland rugby league teams. Queensland Rugby League (QRL) has awarded the Arthur Beetson Foundation with the tender for the next few years to host the Qld State Championships as part of the Carnival. The Foundation has employed MRL Qld Pty Ltd to event manage the Murri Rugby League carnival.
The 2017 All Stars match was the seventh annual representative exhibition All Stars match of Australian rugby. The match was played between the Indigenous All Stars and the World All Stars and for the first time, the match was played outside of Queensland. Mal Meninga took over as coach of the World All Stars from Wayne Bennett.
The 2019 All Stars match was the eighth annual representative exhibition All Stars match of Australian rugby league. The match was played between the Indigenous All Stars and the Māori All Stars and for the first time, the match was played in Victoria's AAMI Park. The match was held on 15 February 2019.
The 2020 All Stars match day was an annual pre-season fixture of Men's and Women's All Stars matches of Australian rugby league. Both games were played on 22 February 2020 at Queensland's Cbus Super Stadium, the original venue the fixture was first played at. The matches were played between the Indigenous All Stars and the Māori All Stars.
The 2021 All Stars match was the tenth annual representative exhibition All Stars match of Australian rugby league. The match was played between the Indigenous All Stars and the Māori All Stars at Townsville, Queensland's Queensland Country Bank Stadium on 20 February 2021.
The 2022 All Stars match was the eleventh annual representative exhibition All Stars match of Australian rugby league. The match was played between the Indigenous All Stars and the Māori All Stars at CommBank Stadium on 12 February 2022. For the first time since the introduction of the All Stars concept, the teams were not selected through public voting.
The Indigenous Australian women's rugby league team is a rugby league football team that represents Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders. The team was first formed in late 2010 for their first match in February 2011. The team currently plays in an annual All Stars Match against a National Rugby League Māori All Stars women's team.
