Kurt Gidley
Encyclopedia
Kurt Gidley is a professional Australian 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 and captain of the Newcastle Knights
Newcastle Knights
The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership...

 in the NRL. An Australian international and New South Wales State of Origin representative fullback he has played his entire NRL career to date with the Knights. He is the younger brother of Matthew Gidley
Matthew Gidley
Matthew "Matt" Gidley is an Australian rugby league administrator and retired professional footballer. Born in Newcastle, New South Wales, Gidley represented New South Wales and Australia. He is the currently CEO of Football Operations at the Newcastle Knights...

. A versatile player, he is able to play a wide variety of positions including fullback which is his prime position, and in both halfback and five-eighth, he can also play hooker.

In 2011, Gidley competed in the third season of the Channel Seven
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...

 television series Australia's Greatest Athlete
Australia's Greatest Athlete (season 3)
The third season of Australia's Greatest Athlete was broadcast on the Seven Network and was hosted by Mark Beretta, with last season's competitor Wendell Sailor...

.

Early and personal life

Gidley is the youngest of three brothers. He was an apprentice butcher
Butcher
A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat or any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat, poultry, fish and shellfish for sale in retail or wholesale food establishments...

 when he left high school. Gidley's current partner is Brooke McNamara.

Playing career

Gidley had a productive 2004 season (being 18th man for the NSW Blues), but missed most of season 2005 due to injury. He was then selected in the 2008 State of Origin
State of Origin
State of Origin is the name used in Australia for one existing sporting event which involves domestic representative teams. The term, when used in isolation, usually refers to rugby league football, and occassionally Australian Football matches, in which players are selected for the Australian...

 series shortly after a fractured cheekbone.

In round 10 of the 2004 NRL season Gidley made history when he won the NRL's first ever golden point match by kicking the winning field goal after 3 minutes and 26 seconds of extra time. The Knights were without Andrew Johns
Andrew Johns
Andrew Gary "Joey" Johns is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer of the 1990s and 2000s who is considered by many to be the greatest player of all time. He was heralded as the world's best halfback for a number of years...

 for the season. That game was against the Broncos at Lang Park (Suncorp Stadium).

In 2006, Gidley travelled to Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...

 to play for the Prime Minister's XIII
Prime Minister's XIII
Prime Minister's XIII or the PM's XIII is the name of a representative rugby league team selected on an annual basis by the Prime Minister of Australia that consists of mainly young Australian players drawn from the National Rugby League competition to take on the Papua New Guinea national rugby...

 against the Kumuls
Papua New Guinea national rugby league team
The Papua New Guinea national rugby league team represents Papua New Guinea internationally in the sport of rugby league football.In Papua New Guinea, Rugby league is highly popular and is regarded as the country’s national sport. The national side are known as the Kumuls...

.

Gidley had a productive season in 2007. He scored multiple times for the Newcastle Knights
Newcastle Knights
The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership...

 as well as having done well at converting goals. He scored 15 points against the South Sydney Rabbitohs
South Sydney Rabbitohs
The South Sydney Rabbitohs are an Australian professional rugby league football team based in Redfern, a suburb of South-central Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League premiership and are one of nine existing teams from the state capital...

. He has also represented NSW in 2007 State of Origin.

In the final round of the 2007 season, with scores level at 24–24, he kicked a penalty goal 12 seconds before fulltime to give the Knights a 26–24 victory over the Wests Tigers
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...

 (who needed to win to book a finals spot), which also ended a 7 match losing streak and allowed Newcastle to avoid the wooden spoon.

Gidley was the stand-out player at the club in the 2008 season as they finished ninth on the NRL ladder with 12 wins and 12 losses. Gidley led the scoring at the club with 150 points and also took the try-scoring award with nine tries. Regarded as one of the best utility players in the game, Gidley was also appointed captain of the Knights for the next season, replacing England-bound hooker and club legend Danny Buderus
Danny Buderus
Danny Buderus is an Australian professional rugby league player who currently plays for the Newcastle Knights in the NRL...

. At the end of the 2008 NRL season, Gidley was named the Newcastle club's player of the year.

In the 2009 season Kurt Gidley again lead the club's season in points as the Knights finished 7th after a good year. Kurt also achieved the second best percentage of kicking goals, with 82.1%, only being beaten by Michael Gordon
Michael Gordon (rugby league)
Michael Gordon is an Australian professional rugby league footballer for the Penrith Panthers of the National Rugby League. A New South Wales State of Origin representative goal-kicking winger he has played his whole career to date with the Panthers...

 with 93.4%.

Representative career

In August 2008, Gidley was named in the preliminary 46-man Kangaroos squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup
2008 Rugby League World Cup
The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup since the inauguration of the tournament in 1954, and the first since the 2000 event...

, and in October 2008 he was selected in the final 24-man Australia squad. He was selected for Australia in the one-off test match against New Zealand
New Zealand national rugby league team
The New Zealand national rugby league team has represented New Zealand in rugby league football since intercontinental competition began for the sport in 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are commonly known as the Kiwis, after the native bird of that name...

 on 8 May 2009.

In May 2009, he was named as captain and fullback to represent New South Wales in the opening 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...

 match on 3 June 2009, in Melbourne.

In November 2009, he was named in the Australian national team to take part in the 2009 Four Nations. In Australia's opening game of the tournament against New Zealand
New Zealand national rugby league team
The New Zealand national rugby league team has represented New Zealand in rugby league football since intercontinental competition began for the sport in 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are commonly known as the Kiwis, after the native bird of that name...

 he played as the 17th man utility, making an impact in the last quarter of the game. In game three against France
France national rugby league team
The France national rugby league team represent France in international rugby league tournaments. They are also sometimes referred to as "Les Tricolores" or more commonly "Les Chanticleers"...

, he was chosen to replace regular fullback Billy Slater
Billy Slater
Billy Slater is an Australian professional rugby league footballer for the Melbourne Storm of the National Rugby League . An Australian international and Queensland State of Origin representative fullback, he has played his whole NRL career to date at Melbourne...

 who was rested along with others. He successfully converted two goals which played part in the final 42–4 Australian win. On 7 November, Gidley was chosen on the interchange bench for the Four Nations final played in Leeds in which the Kangaroos thrashed England 46–16. He was brought on into the centres to replace an injured Justin Hodges early in the game.

In January 2010, Gidley was named in the NRL All Stars team to play on 13 February 2010. He was voted as the Knight's representative after beating Ben Cross, Chris Houston
Chris Houston (rugby league)
Chris Houston is an Australian professional rugby league footballer for the Newcastle Knights of the NRL. His usual positions are at lock and in both the second-row and front-row. He previously played for the St...

 and Jarrod Mullen
Jarrod Mullen
Jarrod Stephen Mullen is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who currently plays for the Newcastle Knights of the National Rugby League . A New South Wales State of Origin representative half, he has played his entire career to date with the Knights.Born in Singleton in Northern...

. Kurt suffered a knee injury in the game which left him sidelined until Round 6 of the 2010 season.

In May 2010, Gidley was named on the bench for the Australian Kangaroos team to play New Zealand in the 2010 ANZAC Test
ANZAC Test
The Anzac Test is an annual rugby league football test match . The test match is played annually between Australia and New Zealand on or around Anzac Day for the Bill Kelly Memorial Trophy.-Origins:Australia and New Zealand had competed in Rugby League Tests since 1908...

 in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

. On 7 May, 28 minutes into the Test match, starting Australian hooker Cameron Smith
Cameron Smith
Cameron Smith is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who currently captains the Melbourne Storm of the National Rugby League...

 came off the field with a shoulder injury which lead to Kurt coming on and playing dummy-half for the rest of the game.

On 17 May 2010 Gidley was named as fullback and captain of the New South Wales Blues
New South Wales rugby league team
The New South Wales rugby league team has represented the Australian state of New South Wales in rugby league football since the sport's beginnings there in 1907. Administered by the New South Wales Rugby League, the team competes in the annual State of Origin series against arch-rivals, the...

. For the first time in Origin history, Gidley captained the side from the reserves bench for Game 2. During a team bonding session on 10 June 2010 Gidley's ex teammate and friend Andrew Johns who at the time was the NSW assistant coach caused controversy when it emerged that he had encouraged a player to attack Queensland player Greg Inglis, referring to him as a "black cunt". Gidley defended Andrew Johns as not a racist and stipulated that "He's obviously still going to be a great mate of mine."

Game 3 of the 2010 State of Origin series
2010 State of Origin series
The 2010 State of Origin series was the 29th year that the annual best-of-three series of interstate rugby league football matches contested between the Queensland and New South Wales representative teams was played under 'State of Origin' selection rules...

 saw Gidley again starting from the bench, and this time stripped of his captaincy. Gidley came on to replace Michael Ennis
Michael Ennis
Michael Ennis is an Australian professional rugby league footballer for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs of the National Rugby League. A New South Wales State of Origin representative hooker, he previously played for the Brisbane Broncos, St George Illawarra Dragons and the Newcastle Knights...

 after 30 minutes and went on to play the rest of the game. Just before half-time, Gidley setup an inside pass for second-rower Paul Gallen
Paul Gallen
Paul Gallen is an Australian professional rugby league footballer for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks of the National Rugby League. Gallen's position of choice is lock and occasionally at Prop. He is an Australian international and New South Wales State of Origin representative...

 to crash over the try line for New South Wales first try of the game. In the 47th minute, Kurt scored the next try for the Blues which narrowed the point deficit to just one. He continued to make several linebreaks and defended strong. Gidley was later awarded the Brad Fittler Medal for NSW's Player Of the Series.

At the end of the 2010 season, Gidley was selected to play for Australia
Australian national rugby league team
The Australian national rugby league team have represented Australia in senior men's rugby league football competition since the establishment of the game in Australia in 1908. Administered by the Australian Rugby League, the Kangaroos' are ranked number one in the RLIF World Rankings...

 for the Four Nations Tournament
Four Nations Tournament
The Four Nations Tournament invitational women's football tournament is hosted by China every year since 2002.-History:*1998: United States 7, Norway 6, China 4, Sweden 0*1999-2001: NOT HELD*2002: Norway 6, Germany 4, United States 4, China 3...

. He played in 3 out of the 4 games and played in the final against New Zealand
New Zealand national rugby league team
The New Zealand national rugby league team has represented New Zealand in rugby league football since intercontinental competition began for the sport in 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are commonly known as the Kiwis, after the native bird of that name...

. He played the whole 2nd half of the final in the centres due to a knee injury to team mate Brent Tate
Brent Tate
Brent Tate is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who currently plays for the North Queensland Cowboys in the National Rugby League...

.

2011 saw Gidley selected in the NRL All Stars team for a second year in a row after Wayne Bennett used one of his two personal picks for Gidley.

External links

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