Simon Woolford (born 7 April 1975) is an Australian professional rugby league coach who was most recently the head coach of the Huddersfield Giants in the Super League, and a former professional rugby league footballer.

Simon Woolford[1]
Personal information
Full nameSimon Woolford
Born (1975-04-07) 7 April 1975 (age 49)
Young, New South Wales, Australia
Height178 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight90 kg (14 st 2 lb)
Playing information
PositionHooker
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1994–06 Canberra Raiders 234 35 1 0 142
2007–08 St. George Illawarra 28 1 0 0 4
Total 262 36 1 0 146
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2002 NSW Country 1 0 0 0 0
Coaching information
Club
Years Team Gms W D L W%
2018–20 Huddersfield Giants 48 23 0 25 48
Source: [2][3]
As of 11 September 2024
RelativesZac Woolford (son)

He played in the NRL for the Canberra Raiders and the St. George Illawarra Dragons, and represented Country in the City vs Country Origin match in 2002.

Background

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Woolford was born in Young, New South Wales, Australia.

Playing career

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He played for the Canberra Raiders and St. George Illawarra Dragons in the NRL. He primarily played as a Hooker. He made his first grade debut for Canberra on 29 May 1994 in round 11 of the season.[4] He played for NSW Country in the City vs Country Origin match in 2002.

Coaching career

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Woolford coached the Queanbeyan Blues in the Canberra Rugby League competition. In 2015 he was suspended for nine months after breaking the window of the coaching box. This was later overturned in a retrial and a suspended sentence of 3 months was handed out.[5] In 2016, Woolford began coaching the Newcastle Intrust Super Premiership NSW side and in 2017 took the club to the finals.[6]

On 29 April 2018 Woolford was announced as the head coach of Huddersfield Giants in Super league on a two-and-a-half-year deal.[7] He took over form Chris Thorman, who had been in charge on an interim basis following the sacking of Rick Stone earlier in the season.

At the start of the 2020 Super League season, it was announced that Woolford would be departing Huddersfield at the end of the campaign. On 16 September 2020, Woolford resigned from Huddersfield with immediate effect after a poor run of results.[8]

References

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  1. ^ Hooper, James (31 December 2007). "Melbourne Storm poaches promising junior". Herald Sun. Archived from the original on 14 June 2011.
  2. ^ "Simon Woolford at the Rugby League Project". Archived from the original on 22 July 2008. Retrieved 1 January 2008.
  3. ^ "Rugby League Project Coaches". Archived from the original on 29 July 2018. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  4. ^ "Custom Match List – Rugby League Project".
  5. ^ "Simon Woolford handed suspended sentence at Seiffert Oval". The Sydney Morning Herald. 25 September 2015. Archived from the original on 25 April 2018. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  6. ^ "Who is Simon Woolford? TotalRL takes a look at the man tipped to become the next head coach of Huddersfield". 20 April 2018. Archived from the original on 4 July 2018. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  7. ^ Booth, Mel (30 April 2018). "Simon Woolford is new Giants head coach on two-and-a-half year contract". huddersfieldexaminer. Archived from the original on 30 April 2018. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  8. ^ "Huddersfield Giants season review". superleague.co.uk. Archived from the original on 22 April 2021. Retrieved 22 April 2021.

Sources

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Sporting positions
Preceded by Canberra Raiders captain
2001-2005
Succeeded by
Preceded by Coach
 
Huddersfield Giants

2018–2020
Succeeded by
Luke Robinson
(interim)
2020