Laurie Daley - Playing Career

Playing Career

Spotted playing first grade for the Junee Diesels in 1986 at the age of sixteen, and after being signed by the Raiders, he developed as a centre and was playing first grade for Canberra by 1987. Daley was playing representative rugby league before his 19th birthday in 1988. He was the second highest try-scorer the following year with sixteen tries. He tasted premiership success with the raiders the following year and in the ensuing celebrations dropped the Winfield Cup from a moving car. In the post season he travelled with the Raiders to England for the 1989 World Club Challenge, playing at centre in Canberra's 18-30 loss to Widnes at the famous Old Trafford stadium in Manchester.

Daley disappointed in his first State of Origin games for New South Wales in 1989, but in mid-1990 he made his Australian début at five-eight against France, scoring a try on début. He would then play against New Zealand a month later in Wellington. At the end of the 1990 NSWRL season where the Raiders won their second consecutive Grand Ginal, Daley won the Raiders' player of the year award and was then selected for the 1990 Kangaroo Tour. He missed Australia's opening loss to Great Britain at Wembley Stadium due to a broken hand suffered in a previous tour match against Leeds, but played centre for the last four tests on tour (two against Great Britain and two against France).

During 1990, Daley was shifted from centre to five-eighth at the Raiders. During the 1992 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand, he helped Australia retain The Ashes. Affected severely by a knee injury in 1992, which saw him miss Australia's World Cup Final win over Great Britain at Wembley following the 1992 NSWRL season, Daley recovered to captain Australia in the absence of suspended captain Mal Meninga in the first Test against New Zealand in 1993, kicking the match-saving field goal. 1994 was again plagued by injury. For the third year running he captained NSW to an Origin series win over Queensland before representing Australia in a mid season test against France. Following the test Daley underwent knee surgery, and recovered in time to help the Raiders easily win the Grand Final over Canterbury 36-12, scoring a 50m try in the first half and showing that he was back to 100% fitness. Following the Grand Final win, Daley was selected, along with six of his Canberra team-mates (Kangaroo captain Meninga, Ricky Stuart, Steve Walters, Brett Mullins and David Furner), to the successful 1994 Kangaroo Tour.

Controversy raged in 1995 when Ricky Stuart was preferred for the Canberra captaincy, even though Daley had captained both New South Wales and Australia ahead of Stuart. Furthermore, the outbreak of Super League and Daley's subsequent support for the rival organisation saw him barred from representative games in 1995. Nonetheless, Daley was awarded Rugby League Week's Player of the Year award in 1995 and the Raiders' player of the year award in 1995, 1996 and 1997.

In 1996, Super League players were once again allowed to compete in representative fixtures sanctioned by the Australian Rugby League, allowing Daley to compete in State of Origin. Even though Daley was the incumbent New South Wales captain prior to 1995, Brad Fittler was preferred to the captaincy. The following year, the Super League competition was launched, and Daley was appointed to captain the Super League representative teams of both New South Wales and Australia, winning their respective competitions. In the opening match of the Super League Test series against Great Britain at the end of the 1997 season, The Australian side wore black armbands in memory of Daley's grandmother who'd died two days before. He captained the side and scored a hat-trick that match in The Kangaroos' emphatic victory. Daley also scored a try in Australi's victory in the third and deciding match.

In 1998, Super League and the Australian Rugby League agreed to combine to launch the National Rugby League competition. Daley took over the Canberra captaincy on a full-time basis after Stuart signed with Canterbury in 1999 and was once again named the Raiders' player of the year. Although Daley continued to make representative appearances, injuries began to limit his appearances; and he was forced into retirement in 2000. In September of that year, his book, Laurie: Always a Winner was published.