Mark Murray (rugby league)
Encyclopedia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n former rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
footballer and coach. He represented Australia in test matches and Queensland in the State of Origin
Rugby League State of Origin
State of Origin is an annual best of three series of rugby league football matches contested by the Maroons and the Blues, who represent the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales respectively...
. His position of choice was halfback. Murray has also coached in the National Rugby League
National Rugby League
The National Rugby League is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership , is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand...
and State of Origin.
Murray, a qualified teacher, was an instrumental player in the early Queensland State of Origin sides, and played 15 games between 1981 and 1986. He also represented his country on six occasions between 1982 and 1985, and toured with the famous 1982 Invincibles
The Invincibles (rugby league)
The Australia national rugby league team have generally since 1908 barring wartime, toured Great Britain every four years often capping the tour with games and Tests in France. This regular touring side are known as the Kangaroos...
. Murray also played in the Brisbane Rugby League premiership with the Norths Devils
Norths Devils
The Northern Suburbs Devils, Norths for short, are a rugby league club representing the northern suburbs of Brisbane, Australia. The team colours are sky blue, navy blue and gold. They play in the Queensland Wizard Cup, and, through their predecessors, are one of the oldest clubs in...
, captaining them to a famous premiership win over Souths in 1980, before moving to the Valleys Diehards
Fortitude Valley Diehards
The Fortitude Valley Diehards were an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Brisbane suburb of Fortitude Valley.-History:...
for the 1982 season to play beside rep teammate Wally Lewis. In 1983 he shifted to the Redcliffe
Redcliffe Dolphins
The Redcliffe Dolphins are a rugby league team from the city of Redcliffe in Queensland, Australia. The Redcliffe Dolphins were founded in 1947, accepted into the Brisbane Rugby League premiership in 1960, and since 1996 have played in the Queensland Cup....
club and played for them up until mid-way through the 1986 season.
Murray's playing career was cut short that year by an eye injury which required surgery. After coaching Redcliffe to a Woolies Trophy win and minor premiership in 1990, he was appointed coach of the Eastern Suburbs Roosters in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership
New South Wales Rugby League premiership
The New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the first rugby league football club competition established in Australia. Run by the New South Wales Rugby League from 1908 until 1994, the premiership was the state's and later the country's elite rugby league competition...
between 1991 and 1994, before he was sacked mid-season and replaced by Arthur Beetson
Arthur Beetson
Arthur Henry "Artie" Beetson, OAM , was an Australian rugby league footballer and coach. He represented Australia and Queensland from 1964 to 1981. His position was at prop. Beetson became the first Indigenous Australian to captain his country in any sport. and is frequently cited as the best...
.
Murray was appointed coach of Queensland in 1999, but was released as coach after a disastrous 2000 series when the Maroons lost the final game 56-16. That year, the Maroons suffered a 3-0 whitewash in the series. He, along with Michael Hagan
Michael Hagan
Michael Hagan is an Australian rugby league football coach and former player. He currently works as assistant coach under Mal Meninga for the record-breaking Queensland rugby league team...
are the only two coaches in Queensland's history not to have won an Origin series for Queensland as coached (although Murray did coach the side in 1999 when the Maroons retained the shield and Hagan was assistant coach when they won the series in 2010), and also has the worst winning percentage of any Queensland coach, with only one win and one draw from six matches at 16.6%.
Murray was also the coach of the Brisbane Norths
Norths Devils
The Northern Suburbs Devils, Norths for short, are a rugby league club representing the northern suburbs of Brisbane, Australia. The team colours are sky blue, navy blue and gold. They play in the Queensland Wizard Cup, and, through their predecessors, are one of the oldest clubs in...
rugby league team in 1998 when they defeated the Wests Panthers
Wests Panthers
The Western Suburbs Panthers, often simply referred to as Wests, are a rugby league club from Brisbane, Australia. The Club is the oldest in the QRL and despite absences from the top grade in recent years and several name changes the club continued to operate...
in the QLD Cup Grand Final. After the resignation of Chris Anderson as coach of the Melbourne Storm in April 2001, Murray took over the role for his second stint as a mentor in the NSWRL/ARL/NRL. He was unable to repeat the success of his predecessor however, and was ultimately released in favour of Craig Bellamy after the 2002 season. He since became the CEO of the Norths club.