Paul Gallen

At 42 years old, Paul Gallen has this physical status:

Paul Gallen (born 14 August 1981) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a lock, prop and second-row forward and captained the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in the NRL.

He is a former captain and representative of the New South Wales State of Origin team.

He has also been the vice captain of Australia and played his whole NRL career with the Sharks, with whom he won the 2016 NRL Premiership.

He is NRL's oldest player playing in 2018.

He has the Australian first grade record for most seasons played in the NRL with 19 (ahead of 18 season players such as Andrew Ettinghausen, Luke Lewis and Cameron Smith.He is also a heavyweight boxer.

Source

Playing career

Gallen made his NRL debut for the Cronulla Sharks against the Parramatta Eels in round 15 at Toyota Park in June 2001. Cronulla lost the match 36 to 6. He made one more appearance this season in the final round, where the Sharks were victorious over the Brisbane Broncos 24-16.

During round 14 of the 2002 season against the Canberra Raiders, Gallen scored his first attempt at first-grade. Gallen made 21 appearances for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in his second season at first-grade level, scoring one goal on the season.

Gallen was called off by referee Paul Simpkins during a round 11 match against the Newcastle Knights in 2003 after a high shot on Sean Rudder. Gallen made a total of 17 first-grade appearances for the club in 2003, scoring five times in the process.

Gallen was suspended for two weeks after the NRL Judiciary found him guilty of a contrary conduct charge in the first round of the year. The judiciary found that he had "instigated and continued to fight involving Wests Tigers prop John Skandalis." During the game, he sustained an elbow injury, which left him out of the tournament before round six. Gallen was the only one in round one to contest his accusation.

Gallen's two attempts in round 11 against the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles gave his team the lead by 30 points to 28 points.

Gallen had already committed to another three years in June.

Gallen made 19 appearances for the club and five tries in the 2004 season.

Cronulla-Sutherland defeated the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 68 points to 6 for round 24, with Gallen scoring a try.

Cronulla finished in seventh place and therefore qualified to be included in the finals series. They were drawn against the second placed team, who happened to be local rivals St. George-Il lawarra. Gallen managed to score a point for Cronulla in the match, but it wasn't enough to keep the Sharks from losing the match 28 points to 22.

Gallen was awarded the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks chairman's award by the club's President Barry Pierce in 2005, during which he ruled the NRL in both hit ups and off loads. He was also nominated for the position of "Best Lock" at the 2005 Dally M Awards. However, he lost out to Manly lock Ben Kennedy.

Gallen appeared in total 25 games for Cronulla-Sutherland in 2005, scoring six tries in the process.

Gallen ran 3,920 meters with the ball in 2005, more than any other participant in the competition.

Gallen's lower back was suffering from a bulging disc in his lower back before the season started. He wanted to return to action just a week after recovering from surgery. He made his comeback in a matter of nine weeks, which stunned Cronulla's medical staff as it was predicted it would take much longer than that.

Gallen played for City in the annual City vs. Country match for the first time in his lifetime. In June, Cronulla coach Stuart Raper pleaded with New South Wales selectors to give Gallen an opportunity to prove his worth at the State of Origins level. "Gallen has been consistent for us over the past 18 months," Raper said, "and if NSW hiccup on Wednesday night, he'll undoubtedly be knocking on the door." Gallen was not chosen for the second match after missing out on pick in the first round. However, the NSW selectors made significant changes to their team following New South Wales' thrashed by Queensland. Gallen was selected to play in the third and final match, which was supposed to be the State of Origin determiner, where Queensland came from behind to win 16–14.

Gallen was selected to play in the annual Prime Minister's XIII squad in September's Papua New Guinea. At Port Moresby, the Prime Minister's XIII defeated Papua New Guinea 28 points to 8, but Gallen was unable to be selected for the Australian Tri Nations squad. Paul Gallen was named of the year's supporters at the end of the year at the Sharks' supporters player of the year honor at the end of the year.

Gallen said in September 2006, just days after being voted Cronulla supporters player of the year, he was considering leaving Cronulla despite having a year remaining on his deal. Gallen said that it wasn't the club or coaching staff that made him leave the club, but rather the fact that "I just want to play semi-final football." Gallen also said he was "looking for a new start and a new challenge."

Gallen made 18 appearances for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in first-grade in 2006, totaling seven tries for the club.

Gallen's future with the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks was highly speculated about before the season ended, with his deal expected to expire at the end of the 2007 season. According to other reports in the media, he will opt out of the club after his deal came, as well as other media claims that Manly would sign him as a long-term replacement for a recently fired player, Ben Kennedy. Gallen, on the other hand, decided to remain at the club, putting an end to the rumors in the media by committing to a four-year contract with Cronulla, which will keep him at the club until 2011. Gallen allegedly turned down a $1.4 million bid from Manly in favour of a $1.1 million contract. Manly announced that they were keen on signing him, but Manly denied that they had ever made an actual bid for him. Gallen said he stayed with the Sharks because he was inspired by Nathan Hindmarsh, who had recently signed a one-club contract with the Eels in the hopes of being a one-club guy. Gallen cited the fact that he wanted to win a premiership with the club because "you'd be remembered for your whole life here in Cronulla," as well as the fact that his "old man" wanted me to remain with the Sharks.

Gallen had to be suspended from the field after suffering a leg injury in a pre-season match against South Sydney. "The scans have revealed ligament damage," Cronulla's physio Matt Green said after doing an MRI scan on his ankle, but not as bad as first expected." Gallen didn't recover against the St. George-Illawarra Dragons in round four of the season, he got his first appearance of the NRL season against the Wests Tigers a week later, but only because he was taking painkilling injections before the games. Ben Pomeroy had a chance against Canberra, Gallen, but he was forced to leave the field due to injury during the second half. However, the injury wasn't serious, and he was able to play in the following round against Newcastle.

Gallen had been selected for City to compete in the annual City vs. Country match, but he was forced to cancel due to a foot injury sustained in round 7 against Newcastle. The injury wasn't severe enough to hold him out of the upcoming NRL match against the New Zealand Warriors, but the club doctors believed his right ankle would not be able to function in the City vs Country match since it would have required three games in a row of six days.

Gallen put in another good show in round 9, defeating the Brisbane Broncos in round 9, giving the game a chance. Gallen defeated Canterbury by 30-20 points with a try in the match's dying stages a week later. Gallen was named Man of the match after his heroics against Canterbury-Bankstown. Gallen scored a try against the Sydney Roosters this week.

Gallen sparked controversy in round 13 of the local derby match against St. George Illawarra at Oki Jubilee Stadium, in which Cronulla defeated 20 points to 16. Gallen was accused of diving after copping a high shot by Richie Williams. Gallen hopped to his feet and applauded his colleagues after the referee gave the penalty. Gallen defended the shooting by saying he was "hit in the head and it hurt." Nathan Brown, a St. George-Illawarra coach, challenged Paul Gallen's boast that he "is a tough guy, but that wouldn't have knocked the top off him." Gallen was suspended for a head high tackle on Ben Creaghy, who was also in the game. However, Gallen did manage to schedule Mitch Brown's first Sharks try.

Gallen also came under scrutiny in the days following the game. "We've got a motto here at the Sharks: do what it takes to win," Gallen said. That's what I've always done. I'm never going to stop doing that." Gallen continued: "We won the game." That's all I'm worried about.

Gallen was again put on notice by the referee after a head high tackle on Patrick Ah Van in round 14 against New Zealand. He was charged by the judiciary with a grade one careless high tackle, which resulted in his suspension for the game against South Sydney in the next round. In round 16, Cronulla had the bye, meaning Gallen did not have the previous two weeks to prove himself for selection in the third game of the series in State of Origin. Despite this, Gallen was rewarded for his outstanding season to date with a call-up to the New South Wales side for the third State of Origin match, while New South Wales was already 2–0 down in the three-game series.

Gallen said he "can't wait to be running out and getting booed" during the third game of the Origin series. It would mean everything going up and defeating them." After New South Wales' loss of the first two games, there was rumors that New South Wales lacked enthusiasm, and Gallen said that "everybody was sick of hearing it." Gallen fired Tonie Carroll at the match just over ten minutes into the match. Gallen, who was also helped out by his teammates, was sent by his teammates to get into a fight with the opposition. Gallen said after the match that he and Greg Bird "came here," meaning that if anyone comes near any of us, we're putting it on. I knew it would be a penalty, but I knew it would also get the boys up, so it's good for the game."

Gallen's second appearance in his second State of Origin match was thrilling. He gained 127 metres in the 55 minutes of the game in which he was active as well as 15 tackles. However, even after Queensland lost their lock in the first minute, suffered multiple other injuries to players who could not return to action due to a lack of replacements, NSW did not have more than a two-point lead until the 72nd minute, where they scored two tries in the process, capped off the final New South Wales victory, winning by 18 points to 4 New South Wales.

Gallen was charged by the NRL judiciary for a "grade one contrary conduct offence" after he head-butted Roosters' player Shane Shackleton and was barred from playing for one match.

The Cronulla team snapped a seven-match losing streak against third-placed Parramatta Eels in Round 22. Gallen was later found that after the match, he had been involved in a collision involving Reece Williams at winger Dustin Cooper's house. After enjoying what was deemed "too much alcohol," teammates and good friends Gallen and Williams were involved in a confrontation. Although it shouldn't have happened, coach Ricky Stuart said that there was nothing serious about it because it was just "a scuffle."

Gallen was rewarded for his fine season with a call-up for the Australian squad in a one-off test match against New Zealand on October 14th. However, Gallen had to be pulled out of the team due to a "shoulder injury," according to his replacement, Melbourne Storm's Dallas Johnson.

After the round 3 match against the Titans for "grubby" play, Gallen attracted new interest. Gallen should face jail time for his facial assault on Anthony Laffranchi, where he allegedly attempted to pull the stitches out of Laffranchi's head wound, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. In a tackle on Graham, Titans quarterback Josh Graham said Gallen clutched his testicles. The allegation was confirmed by photographs of the attack, but no charges were lodged against Gallen.

Gallen was selected for all three games in the annual State of Origins collection. Gallen gave up three points and received widespread praise from fans for his lack of discipline, especially for his late strike on Johnathan Thurston. Gallen described the loss as the worst of his career, but defended himself by claiming that the three penalties cost us the game. However, there is no way in the world that anyone can say that." Gallen was sacked as captain of the Sharks due to his inability in the game's pivotal match, but coach Ricky Stuart came out and backed Gallen, saying that he should keep him as the team captain.

Gallen scored Cronulla's only try in round 18, when the Sharks lost by 34 points to Manly in round 18. Gallen characterized the humiliating loss as "incredible." Gallen was suspended after a high shot on Cooper Vuna in the following match against the Newcastle Knights. He has since served multiple other fines and said that the referees were punishing him.

Gallen represented Australia in the centennial test in 2008, scoring a try.

Gallen was named in Australia's preliminary 46-man Kangaroos squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup in August, and in October 2008 he was selected in Australia's final 24-man squad.

Despite the fact that the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks dropped to the bottom of the 2009 NRL ladder after six rounds, Gallen was selected in the preliminary 40-man team for NSW's 2009 State of Origin series. On May 8, 2009, he was selected for Australia in a one-off test match against New Zealand.

Gallen drew public condemnation for racially insulting Mickey Paea in May 2009. Initialy, the incident drew notice due to Paea's outrage, who is normally a nonviolent player with strong religious convictions. Gallen will be stripped of his captaincy following the incident, according to sources. Gallen resigned from his Cronulla captaincy on June 1, 2009, but not before that.

Gallen received an infringement notice for urinating in public near the head of a sober friend.

Gallen was selected to play for Australia at lock forward in their victory over New Zealand in the 2010 ANZAC Test. Gallen was left out of the first match of the State of Origins but was chosen for the two remaining matches. In the second game, he was suspended for a good shot on Nate Myles in the twenty-third minute. Despite this, Gallen's success, prompting Daily Telegraph Sports editor-at-large, Phil Rothfield, to state, that of all the NSW players, Gallen "possibly" would be the only one chosen by Queensland if they were actually available for them (in place of Ashley Harrison). Gallen scored his side's first try shortly before halftime and brought up teammates Kurt Gidley for their second match right after the break.

The year of Cronulla's supplements saga began in 2011 and lasted until the year's.

Gallen was selected for all three games of the 2011 State of Origins series, as well as Australia. In round 3, he scored his first try of the season against the Panthers. The Sharks won the game 44–12. Gallen, a former prodigy, was uninhibitedly chosen to play prop, and he became the first pro to play 80 minutes in an Origin match since Steve Price (rugby league) in 2007. His exploits made him the man of the match. Subsequently, there were claims that his success was fueled by performance-enhancing drugs, with journalist Andrew Webster referring to this in a story; "State of Origin 2016: The difficult question NSW Blues captain Paul Gallen does not want to answer" is the one that warrants a response.

The annual RLIF Awards dinner at the Tower of London and Gallen on November 3rd was the year's lock forward.

Gallen captained New South Wales for the 2012 State of Origin series, which Queensland also took home. Gallen was named the year's lock forward at the 2012 Dally M Awards.

Gallen was selected for Australia in the 2013 ANZAC Test and played at lock forward. New Zealand was defeated in the first test match ever played in Canberra. Gallen was appointed captain of the New South Wales Blues for the 2013 State of Origins collection. Gallen commanded his team to victory in game one at ANZ Stadium in Sydney, but the victory was not without controversy, and Gallen filed a guilty plea to a striking charge for the undefended punches he landed on the head of Maroons forward Nate Myles. Gallen had not been suspended for the offence, which resulted in the enactment of a rule that players would be banned for any punch kicked in future Origin matches.

Gallen was one of the Cronulla players who pleaded guilty to unlawfully using banned peptides on August 22nd, 2014, and in exchange, ASADA and Sports Minister Peter Dutton's ban on him was reduced. Gallen received nearly $80,000 from the NRL to pay for court costs, but Gallen fired an insulting tweet at the NRL in late October, accusing the NRL of a lack of understanding to him on the subject. Gallen's father was convicted, and Gallen blamed his father, which Gallen denied knowing before taking responsibility.

Gallen said before pleaded guilty, that if they accept reduced bans, they will "be branded drug dealers."

Gallen referred to Queensland supporters as "Two Heads" early in the 2014 State of Origins series. Gallen said, "If you take it as it comes," Gallen said, "We have the job done on the field before and that is where it counts." In the 2014 State of Origins series, Gallen led the New South Wales team to victory over Queensland. The victory marked the first time that New South Wales had won the series in the current decade, putting an end to Queensland's record of eight series wins in a row.

In the State of Origins series, Gallen captained NSW. Gallen's first game was postponed due to a backlash by the media for revealing a lack of leadership; "We saw nothing of that from Gallen, nor from any of them; just meek acceptance of their destiny."

Gallen was once more the captain of NSW for the series. After the second and series of losses, Phil Gould, a respected rugby league pundit and former coach, opined that NSW "have the wrong attitude - and the wrong leaders." Despite this, Gallen retained the captaincy for the third game of the series, which was won by New South Wales 18–14. During the match's reception, he was chastised by Queensland media for allegedly walking away, but the Queensland captain, Cameron Smith, was accepting the shield.

Gallen led Cronulla-Sutherland to the 2016 NRL Grand Final. The Sharks won the Premiership after a close match, defeating the Melbourne Storm 14-12, the Sharks' first premiership in 49-year history. Gallen himself was instrumental in setting up Ben Barba for his first attempt of the night, putting his team up 8-0.

Gallen was ranked in the last ever City vs. Country representative match in 2017. In the elimination finals game, Cronulla defeated North Queensland on September 10, 2017 - the first time a team has played against them. Cronulla had been expected to triumph against a depleted NQ team, but they were faced with a tight match at 14-14. Gallen came within inches of winning the match with less than a minute remaining, but then missed the ball. Michael Morgan kicked a field goal for North Queensland, making it 15-14, the final score, and Cronulla were eliminated from the finals.

Gallen began working on Channel Nine's all-new 100% Footy show in 2018. Gallen was the first player in NRL history to reach 50,000 running meters after round 3. Billy Slater, his closest rival, has 39,439 running meters. Gallen made 21 appearances for Cronulla in 2018 as the club advanced to the preliminary final before losing by 22–6 to Melbourne. Gallen did not participate in the game after suffering an injury in Cronulla's victory over Penrith last week. Gallen signed a one-year contract extension in October to remain at Cronulla for the 2019 season. With the contract, he will be the first man to play 19 seasons with an NRL club.

Gallen spoke to the media in the aftermath of Valentine Holmes' departure from the NRL in the hopes of a lucrative NFL career. "He's won a premiership with us," Gallen said, "he's been our best player." However, I'm dissatisfied with the way this has transpired. Not only does he have a Sharks deal, but he also has an NRL deal. Now that the NRL is so concerned about the game's legitimacy, I can't see how this could be beneficial to the game's credibility. A bloke who has one year in service and is just walking out on a club and the game. If not out for life, it's likely to be at least two years out of the game. Ex players such as Chris Walker and Mat Rogers also responded angrily to Gallen's remarks. Rogers told AAP, "I think Gal's overreayed." It's crazy that he'd come out and say something so stupid for someone who's still paying for fighting when he's not contracted.' "Better mate, Gal, keep your mouth shut," says the narrator.

Gallen is accused of pushing negativity into the NRL, according to Walker, who said it on social media. Gallen responded to Walker's tweet, saying, "Yesterday's news from yesterday's hero, clubs departed on Chris you should try." Since the game hasn't been in the papers since GF, they say that any publicity is positive publicity, which is perhaps why you keep investing yourself in something that doesn't bother you. "I'm going to move on."

After Smith alleged that the NRL was charged with double standards in relation to Cronulla's salary cap violations, Gallen rebuked Melbourne Player Cameron Smith and his calls for Melbourne's 2007 and 2009 premierships to be restored on March 10th. Smith was furious that Melbourne had been barred from the 2007 and 2009 premierships, but Cronulla was allowed to keep their premiership.

Gallen replied with, "We went into and self-signed a $50,000 difference," the CEO believed was all it was." It turned out that it was a $700,000 discrepancy. You may not want the NRL to return and reading those books, particularly when they (Melbourne) were discovered to be $3.7 million over the salary cap over five years. They were a million over the cap for three years. The NRL discovered they were supposed to be paid, compared to the Sharks' 750k over in planned third-party payments. Not all were paid."

Gallen continued to say, "If we had it taken away from us, I would throw my ring away and I would leave the club right away." It wasn't that good with me. The truth is we were under the salary cap in 2016, even with the hoped third-party payments. We were under the salary ceiling. I have no problem with it.

Gallen took over from Scott Prince (166 Losses) as the player with the most losses in NRL history in 2019.

Gallen scored his first goal of the season and kicked the first goal in his career on the full time siren as Cronulla defeated the Gold Coast Titans 26-18 at Suncorp Stadium in Round 9. Gallen taunted the audience with a hand gesture after kicking the goal. Gallen kicked his second goal of his career against St George in Round 11, beating them 22–9.

Gallen was named one of the best players of the decade in the NRL team of the decade, from 2010 to 2019, on August 21, 2019. The panel members were elected out of Premiership-winning coaches Phil Gould, Craig Bellamy, Trent Robinson, and Ricky Stuart, as well as Hall of Famers Peter Sterling, Darren Lockyer, Danny Buderus, and Laurie Daley.

In August 2019, it had been announced that he had been invited to join the Newcastle Knights for twice as much as his previous pay of $700'000. Gallen turned down the offer, explaining that it would have a huge effect on him and his families, and that he would continue to go back to Cronulla for the remainder of his career.

Cronulla-Sutherland beat the Wests Tigers 25–8 in round 25, with Gallen kicking a field goal as the team won the match 25–8 at Leichhardt Oval. Both squads knew that the winner would qualify for the finals.

Gallen's last game as a spectator came the following week as Cronulla was defeated by Manly-Warringah 28–16 at Brookvale Oval.

Boxing career

Gallen began his amateur boxing career in 2012 as part of a rugby league versus rugby union charity tournament in Auckland, New Zealand. It was revealed that he would face Hikawera Elliot, a New Zealand international rugby union player. Gallen won by three-round unanimous points over Elliot on debut. Gallen was preparing for his second amateur fight against Liam Messam, a fellow New Zealand international player. In Auckland, he defeated Messam in a split decision over three two-minute rounds.

Gallen turned professional after it was announced that he would face Australian-based Herman Ene-Purcell on Daniel Geale's undercard. Despite being kicked out by a left hand in the first round, Gallen gained a technical knockout victory in two rounds within two rounds.

Gallen was later scheduled to face Anthony Watts, a former Cowboys, Sharks, and Roosters utility National Rugby League player. Gallen recalled being admitted to hospital after suffering intense pain from a golden staph infection in his groin and underwent surgical intervention in Sydney privately. Gallen won for his second straight victory after a first-round technical knockout win.

Randall Rayment, a new mixed martial arts combater, was his next opponent for the Footy Show Fight Night in January 2015. Gallen gained by a landslide unanimous four-round points. Bodene Thompson, the co-rugby league forward, defeated him in a charity fight at SkyCity Auckland on Saturday, in his fourth fight.

Gallen agreed to return to the ring to face former professional rugby league footballer John Hopoate on February 20, 2019 in the match scheduled for 9 February 2019. In the second round of the tournament, Hopoate was disqualified. "I was caught by a good punch and I can't hide from it," the man said. "I went to sleep and fell over."

Gallen would return to the ring in the middle of this year, this time being former Australian rules footballer Barry Hall. Hall said of Gallen: "I know it's been painted as a code war, but even the help I've been getting off rugby league players has been overwhelming." Gallen and Hall then went full six rounds, resulting in a 57-57 draw. Any fighter thought he'd win the fight after the match was concluded.

Gallen defeated Justis Huni for the Australian heavyweight title on June 2021 after two more victories over Mark Hunt and Lucas Browne. Gallen will be disqualified in the final round of the ten round match after the referee suspended the match. It was Gallen's first defeat in his career.

Television career

Gallen has appeared in a number of roles over the years.

Gallen was a panelist on SportsFan Clubhouse from 2013 to 2015, alongside Renee Gartner and Mieke Buchan and Bill Woods, who was hosted by Bill Woods. On 7mate, there was a sports show on 7mate.

Since 2018, he has appeared on 100% Footy alongside James Bracey and Phil Gould - a rugby league show on Channel Nine that airs on Monday nights. Gallen has appeared on Sports Sunday and Nine's Rugby League coverage occasionally.

The Queensland team was the lowest Maroons team on origin history, according to Daily Telegraph journalist Dean Ritchie before the launch of the 2020 State of Origins collection. Gallen backed up on this claim: "I'd much rather have played against this team than any of the teams I've ever played against," Gallen said before Game 3. This is probably the worst squad in 20 years, according to me. There you go, let's fire them even more. Queensland will win Game 3 and shock New South Wales to win the series, while New South Wales will shock Sydney.

Gallen defended his remarks after the demise of New South Wales, arguing that they were fair and justified. "There was one person from Queensland who stayed on for the new team, and that was their coach from Wayne Bennett." These tenacious Queenslanders came from nowhere, these ardent Queenslanders say, "There wasn't one person" — not even a single other person. After my words on Monday or after the New South Wales journalist's words a few weeks ago, no one said a word. They appear from everywhere, apparently in hindsight and they've won the series. "I had no idea I was so popular." On social media, I received 5000 messages today.

Source