David Waite

Playing Career

Vital Statistics

Born
Wednesday, 30th May, 1951
Current Age
72 years and 294 days

Awards & Accolades

Dally M Coach Of The Year
1996

Biography

C’bury junior played in the club's President's Cup team in 1969 before moving to Wests Wollongong the following year. The talented winger represented Country and NSW in 1973 before winning a place on the Kangaroo Tour. Waite went on to play in four Tests on tour before spending two seasons with the Sharks in the mid-1970s. After scoring 3 tries in the Kangaroos v. The Rest match at the beginning of the 1974 season, he broke his jaw and missed the early rep season. Waite returned to the Test team for the opening match of the Ashes series but was dropped following Australia’s 16-11 Second Test loss. In 1975 he suffered a serious knee injury which forced him into premature retirement the following year. Coaxed by fellow teacher and former Wollongong Wests coach Warren Ryan into making a comeback Waite played with Wests in 1978 but the move was short-lived. Turning to coaching, he was in charge of the unbeaten Australian Schoolboys (1984-86), C’bury’s U’23s (1985-87) and Newcastle’s reserve grade teams (1988-91). As understudy to Allan McMahon at the Knights, Waite stepped into the first grade role when McMahon resigned during the 1991 season. Quietly-spoken and analytical in his approach, Waite took the Knights to the 1992 semi-finals for the first time with a bright, attacking style of football. After the club's downward turn during the 1993-94 seasons he was replaced by former Great Britain coach Mal Reilly. Following St George coach Rod Reddy’s exit prior to the start of the 1996 season Waite was recommended to the vacant position by former Kangaroo team-mate Bob Fulton. In a year that exceeded expectations Waite took the club to the grand final (where, ironically, the Dragons were beaten by Fulton’s Manly team). The logical choice as coach for the newly merged St George I’warra club the Dragons were unluckily beaten in the 1999 grand final. Following the club’s poor start to the 2000 season Waite chose to step down as coach in favour of former I’warra coach Andrew Farrar. In 2001 he was controversially named coach of the Great Britain Test team (his mother was English) but the Lions did not enjoy Ashes or World Cup success under his guidance and he was eventually replaced by Brian Noble.
- ALAN WHITICKER

Playing Career Statistics

All statistics shown in this section are based only on data available in the RLP database, and are not necessarily a complete and/or 100% accurate representation of a player's career. This information should be used as a guide only. If you see a question mark (?), it denotes that the figure is not available.

To view a list of corresponding matches, click on the List button.

Competitions

Competition   App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
City vs Country Firsts 1 - -   - - 0 1 0 0.00% List
Interstate Matches 4 - -   - - 2 0 2 50.00% List
Tour Matches Australia 6 - -   - - 5 1 0 83.33% List
Test Series 6 - -   - - 5 1 0 83.33% List
The Ashes 4 - -   - - 3 1 0 75.00% List
NRL 27 11 -   - 33 10 16 1 37.04% List
Tour Matches New South Wales Firsts 1 - -   - - 1 0 0 100.00% List
National Panasonic Cup 1 - -   - - 0 1 0 0.00% List
NRL Finals 2 - -   - - 0 2 0 0.00% List


International

Test Matches - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Australia 1973-74 6 - -   - - 5 1 0 83.33% List


Representative

Australia - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
NSW Country Seconds 1972 1 1 -   - 3 0 1 0 0.00% List
NSW Firsts 1973-74 5 - -   - - 3 0 2 60.00% List
NSW Country Firsts 1973 1 - -   - - 0 1 0 0.00% List
Overall1972-1974 7 1 0   0 3 3 2 2 42.86% List


Club Career

NRL/NSWRL - By Year

Team Season App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Cronulla NSWRFL 1974 15 7 -   - 21 5 10 0 33.33% List
Cronulla NSWRFL 1975 5 2 -   - 6 2 2 1 40.00% List
Western Suburbs NSWRFL 1978 7 2 -   - 6 3 4 0 42.86% List

NRL/NSWRL - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Cronulla 1974-75 20 9 -   - 27 7 12 1 35.00% List
Western Suburbs 1978 7 2 -   - 6 3 4 0 42.86% List
Overall1974-1978 27 11 0   0 33 10 16 1 37.04% List

Your Say

Want to have your say about this player? Add a comment.

Contributions: Shawn Dollin, Andrew Ferguson, Greg Fiveash, Paul Carter, Rugby League Tables, Alan Katzmann, AJ Lucantonio