Jason Donnelly is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer who represented New Zealand. His position of preference was on the wing.

Jason Donnelly
Personal information
Full nameJason Luke Donnelly
Born (1970-06-28) 28 June 1970 (age 53)
Christchurch, New Zealand
Playing information
Height183 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight96 kg (15 st 2 lb)
PositionWing, Centre
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
Frankton (WRL)
1990–91 Keighley 24 6 0 0 24
1992–96 St George Dragons 55 16 0 0 64
1997 Adelaide Rams 6 0 0 0 0
Total 85 22 0 0 88
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1988 Waikato
1993 New Zealand 3 0 0 0 0
Source: [1]

Early years edit

Jason Donnelly was born on 28 June 1970. Donnelly was originally an athletics champion and was the New Zealand junior decathlon champion before rugby league took precedence.[2]

Playing career edit

A Waikato Rugby League player, Donnelly started his professional career in England playing for Keighley before moving to Australia.[2] There, Donnelly played most of his career with the St George Dragons, scoring sixteen first grade tries. The Dragons made the Grand Final in both 1992 and 1993.[2] He then later played for the Bulldogs.

In 1993 he because a New Zealand tourist and played in three test matches. While on tour in France he was injured along with Stephen Kearney when a balcony they were on collapsed.[3]

He was linked with the new Auckland Warriors franchise in 1994 but negotiations ultimately fell through and he stayed with the Dragons. In 1997 he moved to the new Adelaide Rams side in the rebel Super League competition, playing just 6 games and scoring no tries for the club before retiring at the end of the year.

References edit

  1. ^ "Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org". rugbyleagueproject.org. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  2. ^ a b c Coffey and Wood The Kiwis: 100 Years of International Rugby League ISBN 1-86971-090-8
  3. ^ Kearney may not play game again The Independent, 25 November 1993