Brett Kenny

Australia international rugby league footballer

Brett "Bert" Edward Kenny (born 16 March 1961) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. He was a and for the Australian national team and New South Wales Blues representative sides, and the Parramatta Eels. He played in 17 Tests, made 17 State of Origin appearances and won 4 premierships with Parramatta. He is considered one of the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century.

Kenny was born in Canterbury, New South Wales, Australia.

Kenny made his first grade debut for Parramatta in round 14 of the 1980 season against South Sydney coming off the bench in a 28–12 loss at Redfern Oval. In the 1981 season, Kenny was part of the Parramatta side which claimed their first ever premiership defeating Newtown 20–11 at the Sydney Cricket Ground with Kenny scoring two tries in the match. In the following two seasons, Parramatta defeated Manly Warringah in both grand finals, with Kenny scoring two tries in each final. The 1984 season saw Kenny taste his first defeat in a grand final as Parramatta lost to Canterbury Bankstown 6–4 at the Sydney Cricket Ground. In the 1985 season, Parramatta reached the preliminary final but were defeated again by Canterbury 26–0. During the Australian summer of 1985, Kenny was signed to Wigan in England, where he starred in one of the most famous Challenge Cup finals of them all. Lining up against his Parra halfback partner Peter Sterling (who was playing for Hull F. C.) in front of 100,000 fans at Wembley, Kenny led Wigan to a gripping 28–24 win, capturing the Lance Todd Trophy as man of the match. The image of Kenny, hands stuffed into the pockets of his tracktop and calmly wandering about the pitch after the pre match presentations, has become an enduring legacy of his grace under pressure. In 1986, Kenny claimed his fourth premiership as a player when Parramatta defeated Canterbury in the grand final 4–2 at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The grand final was and still is the only decider where neither team scored a try. Kenny played with Parramatta for another seven years up until the end of the 1993 season. The club failed to reach the finals from 1986 on wards whilst Kenny remained at Parramatta. His final game for the side came in round 22 1993 against Balmain which Parramatta won 22–16 at Parramatta Stadium to send Kenny out on a winning note.

He held the Parramatta club record for the most first grade games (265) from 1993 till 2010 when Nathan Hindmarsh passed his total, and also held the record for most tries for the club (110), which was only surpassed by Luke Burt during the 2011 NRL season. His 21 tries in the 1983 season stands third behind Semi Radradra's 24 and Steve Ella's 23 for most tries in a season. Kenny holds the record feat of being the only player to have scored two tries in three (consecutive) grand finals, from 1981 to 1983. In the 1986 Grand Final against Canterbury, Kenny also looked to have scored two tries, but had them both disallowed by the referee in controversial circumstances. In the 12 State of Origin games where he was selected as starting five eighth for NSW, Kenny had an eight games to four winning advantage over Wally Lewis.