Craig Coleman

Craig Coleman

Personal information
Nickname	Tugger
Born	13 January 1963 (1963-01-13) (age 48) Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia
Playing information
Position	Halfback
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
1982–92	South Sydney	216	25	0	8	108
1986–87	Widnes	3				5
1988–89	Hull	24				14
1989–90	Leeds	17				14
1992–93	Salford	28				28
1994–95	Gold Coast Seagulls	44	4	0	0	16
1996	Western Suburbs	16	1	0	0	4
	Total	348	30	0	8	189
Coaching information
Club
Years	Team	Gms	W	D	L	W%
1998–1999	South Sydney	48	15	0	33	31
2002	South Sydney	24	5	0	19	21
	Total	72	20	0	52	28
Source: RLP

Craig Coleman (born 31 January 1963 in Surry Hills, New South Wales) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer and coach. He primarily played at halfback and remains second on the list of most first-grade games played for Souths, 208.^[1]

Playing career

Coleman was graded to South Sydney as a seventeen year old in 1980. In 1981 he played in the under-23 side coached by Brian Smith which lost only two games in the season and won the Grand Final at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

He made his first-grade debut for the Rabbitohs in round 22 of the 1982 season, playing at halfback against Peter Sterling and the Parramatta Eels at Redfern Oval.

During his eleven seasons with the Rabbitohs, Coleman spent three off-seasons playing in England - Widnes, Hull and Leeds. After he was released by Souths at the end of the 1992 season, he played a fourth off-season in England, for Salford.

Due to his late return to Australia (after the 1 February signing deadline), Coleman was unable to sign with the Gold Coast for the 1993 season. He threatened to take the Australian Rugby League to court when he was denied the clearance but spent the year playing park football for the Coogee Wombats in Souths' A-grade competition. He was back in first grade in 1994 with the Gold Coast Seagulls and finished his first-grade career playing one season for the Western Suburbs Magpies in 1996 under coach, Tommy Raudonikis.

Coaching career

Coleman returned to the Rabbitohs as a reserve-grade coach and took over from Steve Martin as first-grade coach in round 19 of the 1998 season.^[2]

In 2000, the Rabbitohs were excluded from the National Rugby League competition. Coleman, while working as a baggage handler for Ansett, joined the fight to have the club included in the competition.^[3] On the club's return in the 2002 season, Coleman was once again head coach but after a poor season the South Sydney board considered his position in late September. A split decision opted to retain Coleman as coach but revised the coaching staff, appointing Phil Blake (former Souths utility player) as the club's new coaching coordinator with Paul Langmack appointed as defensive coach.^[4] Five months later and only eleven days before the official start of the 2003 season, Coleman was sacked by the club after a series of losses in the pre-season trials.^[5][6] Under his coaching, the Rabbitohs won 17 of 54 games (31%) over three playing seasons.^[7] 1999 was the most successful of Coleman's coaching seasons in NRL, with the Rabbitohs narrowly missing the semi finals.

References

• Alan Whiticker & Glen Hudson (2007). The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players. Wetherill Park, New South Wales: Gary Allen Pty Ltd. pp. page 94. ISBN 978-1-877082-93-1. 
• Tony Adams. "Legend Q&A". Rugby League Week (Sydney, NSW: PBLMedia) (5 September 2007): pgs 22–23. 

Footnotes

1. ^ "South Sydney factbox" (Fee required). AAP Sports News (Australia). 1999-10-14. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-23730542.html. Retrieved 2008-07-27. 
2. ^ "Factbox on careers of Andrew Farrar and Craig Coleman" (Fee required). AAP Sports News (Australia). 2002-08-14. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-55296922.html. Retrieved 2008-07-27. 
3. ^ "Souths factbox" (Fee required). AAP Sports News (Australia). 2002-03-09. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-51299020.html. Retrieved 2008-07-27. 
4. ^ "Coleman hangs on" (Fee required). AAP Sports News (Australia). 2002-09-26. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-67901278.html. Retrieved 2008-07-27. 
5. ^ "Rabbitohs axe Langmack". ABC News. 2004-06-02. http://www.abc.net.au/sport/content/s1120844.htm. Retrieved 2008-07-27. ^{[dead link]}
6. ^ "Sacked Coleman bitter as Blake takes interim role" (Fee required). AAP Sports News (Australia). 2003-03-03. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-72202917.html. Retrieved 2008-07-27. 
7. ^ "Craig Coleman Coaching Stats". Sports Data. http://www.nrlstats.com/archive/coaches.cfm?CoachID=229. Retrieved 2008-07-27. 

External links

• Craig Coleman at the Rugby League Project
• Craig Coleman at stats.rleague.com
• Craig Coleman at NRL Stats

Preceded by Steve Martin 1998

Coach South Sydney Rabbitohs 1998–1999 2002

Succeeded by Paul Langmack 2003–2004

Persondata
Name	Coleman, Craig
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1963-01-31
Place of birth	Surry Hills, New South Wales
Date of death
Place of death