Luke Bailey (rugby League) - St George Illawarra Dragons

St George Illawarra Dragons

After playing a sole season of lower grade rugby with the Dragons, Bailey had impressed the club's top tier coaches enough to earn a spot on the bench for the Dragons 2000 season opener against local rivals the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks; a game they would eventually lose twenty-eight to twelve. Bailey made another two consecutive appearances from the bench but after a twenty-four to zero thumping at the hands of the Canterbury Bulldogs he was dropped for their round four clash with the Northern Eagles.

Bailey remained in the lower grades at the Dragons before earning a recall to the first grade side against the Wests Tigers in round six and a week later was given his first starting berth by coach David Waite. After an impressive performance during the team's win against the Auckland Warriors during his first start Bailey remained a staple fixture in the starting line-up, playing in every remaining season fixture and cementing his starting position in the clubs line-up.

After an impressive first year, Bailey began the 2001 season in a starting spot in the front row. He appeared in the Dragon's first four appearances of the season but tore a pectoral muscle during the team's loss to the Warriors, an injury which ruled him out for the rest of the season.

The beginning of the 2002 season saw Bailey recover fully from the injury that had prematurely ended his previous playing year and while he missed all of the clubs trials including the Charity Shield fixture against South Sydney he made his return to the team for their opening round clash against Cronulla-Sutherland and would go on to appear in a further twenty consecutive appearances putting in several man of the match performances and along the way earning himself a call up to the New South Wales State of Origin side. During the Dragons round twenty-one loss to the Newcastle Knights Bailey found himself being severely reprimanded for the first time in his short career after opposing forward Josh Perry had claimed Bailey had bitten him on the forearm before withdrawing the allegation moments later. The seriousness of the allegation and the media frenzy that followed however saw Bailey being called up to face the NRL Judiciary however he was later cleared of any wrongdoing.

Five weeks later when the Dragons again took on the Newcastle side the spotlight was again on Bailey for a disciplinary issue with Knights coach Michael Hagan claiming that a tackle from him had injured Newcastle captain Andrew Johns and ended his season, however he was not charged over the incident.

2003 started well for the Dragons with six victories from their first eight games but it would become somewhat of a forgettable one for Bailey after he injured his back during a fixture against the Penrith Panthers and was left with a severe lower back strain after being cleared of a suspected fractured vertebra. This injury became a somewhat re-occurring one and hampered his season keeping him out of several matches throughout the year. Further injury at the completion of the year ruled Bailey out of the Australian national side for their end of season Northern hemisphere tour after he required surgery to fix a damaged ear.

After missing the Australian tour and having his first full off-season of training under his belt since 2002 meant that Bailey would play in the Dragons trial matches that year including their 34 – 8 victory in Charity Shield against the Rabbitohs. However the actual season did not start as positively with Bailey being placed on report for a dangerous tackle in the season opener against the Canberra Raiders and then subsequently being charged and forced to miss the round two clash with the Warriors. Bailey returned from suspension a week later in the Dragons loss to the Melbourne Storm and then went on to play the next few rounds for the Dragons with several strong performances earning him an Australian call up. Though injury again hampered him during a regular season fixture against the Sea Eagles in round nine where Bailey re-injured his pectoral muscle as he had also done in 2001 which meant he was in for another lengthy stay on the sidelines being ruled out for the entire regular season. He eventually made his return during the final series but not even his presence could help the Dragons from narrowly losing to the Penrith Panthers.

2005 looked a promising one for both the club and Bailey, who started the season without any injury or suspension clouds hanging over his head. A promising start to the season would continue for the club helped by lack of injuries to key players including 'Bull' Bailey who would go on to make a total of twenty-three appearances for the club guiding them to equal top position of the ladder after all regular season games sitting just behind Parramatta on points difference. The finals series saw Bailey put in an impressive performance in a tough game against the Sharks but all would be in vain as the Dragons would eventually lose in the preliminary finals to eventual winners the Wests Tigers.

Bailey played his last season for St George Illawarra in 2006.