John Eales

At 53 years old, John Eales has this physical status:

John Eales AM (born 27 June 1970) is an Australian former rugby union player and the most successful captain in Australian rugby history.

He was one of the first players to win multiple Rugby World Cups in 1999.

Early life

Eales went to school at Marist College Ashgrove, in Ashgrove. Eales played first grade cricket for Queensland University in the Brisbane QCA cricket tournament in his youth. Before heading to international rugby, Eales earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in psychology from the University of Queensland.

Personal life

In the run-up to the 1999 Australian republic referendum, Eales favoured Australia's becoming a republic.

Elijah Eales, Eales' son, plays for Ebay Grade Cricket.

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Rugby career

Eales was locked for the Queensland Reds and Australia. Because "Nobody's flawless," he was given the nickname "Nobody."

In an era of Australian success in world rugby, Eales' 55-cap time as captain marked a new golden age for the Australians. Eales was involved in Australia's triumphs at the Rugby World Cup, first in 1991 and later in 1999. Phil Kearns took over the captaincy from him.

Eales scored 173 points for Australia (one at 55,000, one at 5), 34 penalties, and 31 conversions – a total that places him 12th on the all-time scoring list for Australia. He is the highest scoring forward in Test rugby history, and just one of seven forwards to have scored more points in Test rugby as of November 2015 (the others being Richie McCaw, Jean Prat, Takashi Kikutani, Colin Charvis, Mamuka Gorgodze, and Carlo Checchinato). This is mainly due to his goal kicking, which is unusual for a forward; his two tries are unremarkable (by comparison, none of Checcinato's, Charvis', and McCaw's points have arisen from tries).

Eales captained Australia on 60 occasions, 55 times in Test matches, making him the second most capped Wallaby captain after George Gregan (59). He is ranked seventh in games played as the international captain as of 2017. Eales' 86 caps make him Australia's fourth most cap forward and joint ninth on the overall list, making him his fourth most capped forward in Test rugby history and joint ninth.

Eales won 11 Tests against the All Blacks and lost 9. He captained the Wallabies 11 times, winning 6 and losing 5. Eales is one of only 21 players to have played for the Queensland Reds in 100 or more state games - he represented his state in 112 games. In the Super 12 competition, he scored a total of 402 points, including 6 tries, 66 conversions, and 80 penalties for the Queensland Reds. In the competition's history, no forward has scored more points than him.

He is one of a select group of the Rugby World Cup twice.

He retired as the mostcapped lock of all time, with 84 Test appearances in that position (his other two Tests were as a number eight). Many players have since been surpassed in caps as a lock.

Post-playing career

Eales was a founder of the Mettle Group and his personal firm, JohnEales5. He has served as the director of Flight Centre Travel Group and Magellan Financial Group, as well as being a columnist for The Australian newspaper. He is also employed as a Westpac consultant. He is also a non-executive director at Fuji Xerox.

At the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France, Eales served as a "rugby ambassador" for the Australian Olympic Committee, as well as a variety of media roles and fulfilled the role as an Athlete Liaison Officer for the Australian Olympic Committee in Athens, Beijing, and the 2012 London Olympics.

He has served as an Ambassador for the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation, Hearts in Union, and the Melanoma Institute Australia.

He is a member of Bond University and offers the annual John Eales Rugby Excellence Scholarship, which includes one-on-one mentoring with Eales.

Eales has published two books, one on Legends of Sport, and another on Company.

Eales is a regular lecturer at University of Notre Dame.

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