Gene Miles

Last updated

Gene Miles
Personal information
Born (1959-07-21) 21 July 1959 (age 64)
Townsville, Queensland, Australia
Playing information
Height193 cm (6 ft 4 in)
Weight102 kg (16 st 1 lb)
Position Centre, Second-row
Club
YearsTeamPldTGFGP
1980–87 Wynnum-Manly 924202159
1988–91 Brisbane Broncos 72200080
1991–92 Wigan 2980032
Total1937002271
Representative
YearsTeamPldTGFGP
1981–89 Queensland 2346035
1982–88 Australia 1480032
Source: [1]

Gene Miles (born 21 July 1959) is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. An Australian international and Queensland State of Origin representative centre, he played his club football in the Brisbane Rugby League premiership before joining the Brisbane Broncos in 1988 and later captained in 1990.

Contents

BRL

A product of the North Queensland city of Townsville, where he played for Souths, Miles joined Wynnum-Manly in the Brisbane Rugby League premiership in 1980 and was playing in the State of Origin the following year.

He played for Wynnum-Manly in the Brisbane Rugby League premiership's grand final in 1982. He was then one of seven Queensland-based players to go on the 1982 Kangaroo tour (with a squad later dubbed "The invincibles") to Great Britain – the others were Wally Lewis, Rohan Hancock, Mark Murray, Rod Morris, Mal Meninga and Greg Conescu. Miles could not break into the Test team and played against club sides and in an international against Wales. He made his Test début the following year. In 1984 Miles played a major role in an Oceania team's 54–4 victory over an Anglo-French selection in an exhibition match Paris, returning to Brisbane after the match to continue playing for Wynnum-Manly. [2] He returned to the United Kingdom four years later with the 1986 Kangaroo Tour and participated in all six Test matches, against Papua New Guinea, Great Britain and France. After the home Test against New Zealand in 1987, and also winning the BRL's Rothmans Medal that year.

NSWRL

Miles joined the Brisbane Broncos for their maiden season in 1988, playing in their first ever match. He later switched to the forwards and soon adapted to become one of the country's finest second rowers, playing for Australia against the Rest of The World in 1988 at the Sydney Football Stadium.

In 1989 he was part of the Queensland State of Origin team's 3-0 clean sweep of New South Wales, playing all three games in the second-row. He was chosen to tour New Zealand with the Australian squad in 1989 but was forced to pull out with a broken hand. The following year, he announced his retirement from representative football so he could concentrate on his job as captain of the fledgling Brisbane club, helping the Broncos to the play-offs for the first time in 1990.

England

After 72 first grade games for the Broncos, 14 Tests for Australia (including two Kangaroo tours) and 19 State of Origin matches for Queensland, Miles accepted a contract offer from Wigan, making his début in October 1991 against Featherstone Rovers. Miles played 29 matches for Wigan as they won a treble of Championship, Challenge Cup and Premiership. His journey to England, struggle with injuries and adaptation to the English game was chronicled as part of the BBC2 documentary series Up & Under, which followed Wigan and local union side Orrell R.U.F.C. during their 1991-92 campaigns. Whilst at Wigan, Miles formed a formidable partnership with winger Martin Offiah.

Playing style

Initially one of a group of fast and skillful heavyweight Queensland centres along with Mal Meninga and Chris Close, Miles size saw him moved into the Second-row towards the end of his Australian career, though he generally played in the centres with Wigan. Miles was particularly skilled in passing, and noted for his ability to use his 6'4" (193 cm) height to his advantage and off-load the ball with a one-handed basketball style.

Post-playing

Miles returned to Australia to pursue a media career with Channel Nine and in 2000, was awarded the Australian Sports Medal for his contribution to Australia's international standing in the sport of rugby league. In 2001 Miles was appointed Chairman of Selectors for the Queensland State of Origin. He is also the Executive Director of the non-profit organisation Former Origin Greats (FOGS).

During the 2007 season at the Broncos' 20-year anniversary celebration, the club announced a list of the 20 best players to play for them to date which included Miles. [3]

In February 2008, Miles was named in the list of Australia's 100 Greatest Players (1908–2007) which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia. [4] [5] In June 2008, he was chosen in the Queensland Rugby League's Team of the Century on interchange bench. [6]

As of 2017, Miles is a selector for Queensland's State of Origin team along with Darren Lockyer and head coach Kevin Walters.

Footnotes

  1. Rugby League Project
  2. "Sport digest". The Sydney Morning Herald . 19 April 1984. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
  3. Dekroo, Karl (9 May 2007). "Still the king". The Courier-Mail. Australia: Queensland Newspapers. Archived from the original on 12 May 2007. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
  4. Peter Cassidy (23 February 2008). "Controversy reigns as NRL releases top 100 players". Macquarie National News. Archived from the original on 25 February 2008. Retrieved 23 February 2008.
  5. "Centenary of Rugby League – The Players". NRL & ARL. 23 February 2008. Archived from the original on 26 February 2008. Retrieved 23 February 2008.
  6. Ricketts, Steve (10 June 2008). "Locky named No.1 but Wal's still King". The Courier-Mail . Archived from the original on 2 July 2008. Retrieved 20 May 2009.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wally Lewis</span> Australian rugby league footballer and coach (born 1959)

Walter James Lewis AM is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and coached in the 1980s and 1990s. He became a commentator for television coverage of the sport. A highly decorated Australian national captain, Lewis is widely regarded as one of the greatest ever players of rugby league. His time as a player and coach was followed by a career as a sports presenter for the Nine Network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mal Meninga</span> Australian rugby league football coach and former player

Malcolm Norman Meninga is an Australian professional rugby league coach who is the head coach of the Australian national team and a former professional rugby league footballer. Meninga is widely regarded as one of the finest players in the game's history. He enjoyed a long career in both Australia and England, playing mainly as a goal-kicking centre. After retiring, Meninga has enjoyed success as a coach, and is currently the head coach of Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allan Langer</span> Australia international rugby league footballer

Allan Jeffrey "Alfie" Langer AM is an Australian former multi-award-winning rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s and worked as an assistant coach for the Australian national team, the Queensland Maroons and the Brisbane Broncos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darren Lockyer</span> Australian TV commentator and former professional rugby league footballer

Darren James Lockyer is an Australian television commentator and former professional rugby league footballer. Lockyer was an Australian international and Queensland State representative captain, who played his entire professional career with the Brisbane Broncos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Vautin</span> Australia international rugby league footballer and sports pundit/broadcaster (born 1959)

Paul Vautin nicknamed Fatty, is an Australian football commentator and formerly a professional rugby league footballer, captain and coach. He has provided commentary for the Nine Network's coverage of rugby league since joining the network in 1992 and also hosted The Footy Show from its beginnings in 1994 opposite co-host Peter Sterling, until 2017. An Australian Kangaroos test and Queensland State of Origin representative lock or second-row forward, Vautin played club football in Brisbane with Wests, before moving to Sydney in 1979 to play with Manly-Warringah, whom he would captain to the 1987 NSWRL premiership. He also played for Sydney's Eastern Suburbs, and in England for St Helens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Prince</span> Australia international rugby league footballer

Scott Prince is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a halfback in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wynnum Manly Seagulls</span> Australian rugby league club, based in Manly West, Brisbane QLD

The Wynnum-Manly Seagulls are an Australian rugby league football club based at Kougari Oval, in Brisbane's bayside suburb of Manly West, which neighbours the suburb of Wynnum. They competed in the Brisbane Rugby League from 1951 to 1997. Since 1996 they have competed in the Queensland Cup. Their jersey is red, green and white. From 1995 to 2005 they were known as the Wynnum Seagulls.

Kevin David Walters is an Australian professional rugby league football coach and former player, who has been the head coach of the Brisbane Broncos in the National Rugby League (NRL) since 2021.

Robert Fulton, also nicknamed "Bozo", was an Australian international rugby league footballer, coach and later commentator. Fulton played, coached, selected for and has commentated on the game with great success at the highest levels and has been named amongst Australia's greatest rugby league players of the 20th century. As a player Fulton won three premierships with the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in the 1970s, the last as captain. He represented the Australian national side on thirty-five occasions, seven times as captain. He had a long coaching career at the first grade level, taking Manly to premiership victory in 1987 and 1996. He coached the Australian national team in thirty-nine Tests. He was a New South Wales State selector and a national selector. He was a radio commentator with 2GB at the time of his death in 2021, aged 73. In 1981, he was selected as one of the initial four post-war "Immortals" of the Australian game and, in 2008, he was named in Australia's team of the century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dane Carlaw</span> Australia international rugby league footballer

Dane Carlaw is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. An Australia national and Queensland State of Origin representative forward, he played in Australia for National Rugby League club, the Brisbane Broncos and in France for Super League club, Catalans Dragons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petero Civoniceva</span> Former Australia & Fiji international rugby league footballer

Petero Civoniceva, is a Fijian-Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. A Queensland State of Origin and Australian international representative prop forward, in 2009 he broke the record for most international matches for Australia of any forward in history. Civoniceva played his club football for the Brisbane Broncos, with whom he won the 1998, 2000 and 2006 NRL Premierships, as well as for the Penrith Panthers, whom he captained. Late in his career whilst playing for the Redcliffe Dolphins in the Queensland Cup, Civoniceva captained the Fiji national team in their 2013 Rugby League World Cup campaign. The Petero Civoniceva Medal is awarded to the Australian Fijian rugby league footballer of the year, while the Civoniceva Medal is awarded to the Queensland Cup player voted as the best and fairest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gary Belcher</span> Australia international rugby league footballer & broadcaster

Gary Belcher is an Australian rugby league football commentator and former player. An Australian international and Queensland State of Origin representative, he played club football in the Brisbane Rugby League premiership for the Souths Magpies and in the NSWRL Premiership for the Canberra Raiders. He also played in England for Castleford. Belcher's position of choice was fullback, though he began his career in the centres.

Paul Gregory Green was an Australian professional rugby league football coach, best known for taking the North Queensland Cowboys to the NRL premiership in 2015, and a professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s.

Bob Lindner is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s, and coached in the 1990s. An Australia national and Queensland State of Origin representative forward, he is one of a handful of players to be named man-of-the-match in State of Origin football more than once. Fifteen years after his retirement from football in Australia, he had made the most appearances and scored the most tries of any forward in State of Origin history.

The 1994 NSWRL season was the eighty-seventh season of professional rugby league football in Australia. Sixteen clubs, including 14 from within the borders of New South Wales plus two from Queensland, competed for the J J Giltinan Shield during the season, which culminated in a grand final match for the Winfield Cup trophy between the Canberra Raiders and the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs.

Greg Dowling is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. An Australian international and Queensland State of Origin representative prop forward, he played his club football mostly in Brisbane with a spell playing for English club, Wigan.

Colin Scott is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. Primarily a fullback, he was an inaugural player for the Queensland State of Origin team and the Brisbane Broncos.

John Plath is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s. He played in all of the Brisbane Broncos' first four grand final wins from the interchange bench and retired as the most-capped Bronco not to have played representative football.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duncan Hall</span> Australia international rugby league footballer

Duncan Hall was an Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s and 1950s, singled out as having been amongst the greatest of the 20th century. He played in the Brisbane Rugby League premiership for Fortitude Valley Diehards and represented Queensland and Australia. He has been named amongst the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century. Away from football Hall worked as a hotelier and bookmaker, and in his later years worked at the Broncos Leagues Club. His son Duncan Hall, Jr. played 15 rugby union tests for the Wallabies

The 1995 Trans-Tasman Test series was an international rugby league, three test series played in Australia between the Australian Kangaroos and New Zealand national rugby league team. As the series was played in the middle of the 1995 ARL season and most of the Kiwis selected came from Australian Rugby League (ARL) clubs, New Zealand did not play in any tour matches while in Australia, but prior to the series against Australia they had a two test home series against France.