Tony Caine is an Australia

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 professional 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...

 player in the Australian 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...

. He played for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks and St George Illawarra Dragons

St George Illawarra Dragons

The St George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing the St. George and Illawarra regions. They have competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 as a joint venture between Sydney's historic St. George Dragons club and 1982 expansion club, the...

. His position of choice is at hooker

Rugby league positions

A rugby league football team consists of thirteen players on the field, with four substitutes on the bench. Players are divided into two general categories: "forwards" and "backs"....

.

Caine is the younger brother to professional rugby league player and former Wests Tiger

Wests Tigers

The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's mid-western suburbs. They have competed in the National Rugby League since they were formed at the end of the 1999 season as a joint-venture club between the Balmain Tigers and the Western Suburbs...

, Joel Caine

Joel Caine

Joel Caine is a retired Australian rugby league player.Caine's position of choice was as a or on the .He played for St. George Dragons, Balmain Tigers and Wests Tigers in the NRL...

.

Childhood and early career

Caine began his rugby league career playing for the Gymea Gorillas

Gymea Gorillas

The Gymea Gorillas Junior Rugby League Football Club is a junior and senior amateur rugby league football club that is based in the Sydney suburb of Gymea and competes in the Cronulla-Sutherland District Rugby Football League...

 before moving on to De La Salle Caringbah

Caringbah, New South Wales

Caringbah is a suburb, in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Caringbah is located 24 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of Sutherland Shire...

, he attended school at Endeavour Sports High School where he played rugby league in the Arrive Alive Cup and was signed by the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks.

Playing career

In 2006, after playing the early part of the season in the Sharks premier league side where he scored eleven tries, Caine was called up to first-grade to replace Tevita Latu

Tevita Latu

Tevita Leo-Latu is a professional rugby league footballer for the Central Queensland Comets of the Queensland Cup. He previously played for the New Zealand Warriors and Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in the National Rugby League...

 on the bench for their round twelve clash with the New Zealand Warriors

New Zealand Warriors

The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand. They compete in the National Rugby League premiership and are the League's only team from outside Australia...

. Caine attempted a kick in play and was charged down by Warriors prop Steve Price  resulting in Caine sustaining a severe knee injury.

Caine signed with the Dragons for the 2007 and 2008 seasons, but the club released Tony Caine in 2008 after the 21-year-old quit to seek a complete period of rest for his troublesome knee.

In 2009 Caine returned to the NRL, signing with his original club the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks.