Paul Harragon

  • Playing Career

Playing Career

Vital Statistics

Full Name
Paul William Harragon
Nickname(s)
Chief
Born
Saturday, 12th October, 1968
Current Age
56 years and 26 days
Place Of Birth
Kurri Kurri, New South Wales, Australia

Honours & Awards

Based only on data available in the RLP database. This information should be used as a guide only.

World Cup
1989/1992, 1995
The Ashes
1992, 1994
Test Series
New Zealand vs Australia 1993, Australia vs New Zealand 1995
Anzac Tests
1998
State of Origin
1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997
ARL Premiership (NRL)
1997
Dally M Prop Of The Year
1996
Ken Stephen Medal
1997

Biography

A foundation member of the Newcastle Knights, Paul 'The Chief' Harragon reaped many rewards during his brilliant career. The giant prop was first chosen in the Country Origin side in 1990 but was ruled out with injury. It was his great performances in NSW's State of Origin victory in 1992, earning coach Phil Gould's award as best player, that led to his selection in the three Test series against Great Britain. Harragon's massive hits and his fearless taking up of the ball made a great impact in the Australian side but a suspension after being cited for a high tackle robbed him of a place in the Test team that defeated Papua New Guinea in July. After playing in Newcastle's historic semi-final appearance in 1992, he was chosen in the Australian World Cup squad although he failed to play in the final. Harragon then made Test appearances against NZ (1993), France (1994) and Great Britain and France on the 1994 Kangaroo tour although injury limited his appearances following Australia's shock First Test loss. Harragon's position of respect in the Newcastle club acted as a conduit for other Knights players in their signing loyalty agreements with the ARL in early 1995. NSW lost the State of Origin series that year 3-0 and was overlooked for the First Test against NZ - a huge snub considering this was a series in which Super League players were ruled ineligible (he was only used from the bench in the other two Tests). Chosen in Australia’s World Cup squad at the end of the year, Harragon was cleared to captain Australia in the match against South Africa despite having a fractured cheekbone. His 16 minutes of field-time appeared to make a mockery of the medical decision to leave Wayne Pearce (1986) and Wally Lewis (1990) out of their respective Kangaroo Tours, and Harragon returned to Australia before the playing of the final. In 1996 he played in NSW’s State of Origin whitewash and represented Australia against Fiji and Papua New Guinea. His clashes with Manly’s Mark Carroll, in which Harragon often came off second best, were certainly memorable but no one could begrudge the likeable giant the honour of holding up the Optus premiership trophy following Newcastle’s ‘back-from-the-dead’ grand final win over Manly in 1997. After battling blinding headaches for much of the 1997 season, a succession of knee injuries limited his appearances in 1998. In May 1999 ‘The Chief’ announced his retirement and has since become a regular member of Channel 9’s Footy Show. In January 2000 he received an Order of Australia medal (OAM). Biography, One Perfect Day (1999).
- 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   Comp Wins App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Anzac Tests 1 1 - -   - - 0 1 0 0.00% List
The Ashes 2 4 - -   - - 2 2 0 50.00% List
World Cup 2 3 - -   - - 2 1 0 66.67% List
Tour Matches Australia - 14 4 -   - 16 12 2 0 85.71% List
Test Series 4 9 1 -   - 4 6 2 1 66.67% List
State of Origin 5 20 2 -   - 8 12 8 0 60.00% List
City vs Country - 6 2 -   - 8 4 2 0 66.67% List
NSWRL/ARL/NRL Premiership 1 170 19 -   - 76 91 73 6 53.53% List
NSWRL/ARL/NRL Finals - 11 - -   - - 6 5 0 54.55% List
Challenge Cup AU - 4 - -   - - 1 3 0 25.00% List


International

Test Matches - By Team

Team Years   App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Australia 1992-96, 1998   17 3 -   - 12 12 4 1 70.59% List

International Matches - By Team

Team Years   App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Australia 1992-1997   1 - -   - - 1 0 0 100.00% List

World Cup Matches - By Team

Team Years   App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Australia 1992, 1995   3 - -   - - 2 1 0 66.67% List


Representative

Australia - By Team

Team Years   App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
NSW 1992-98   20 2 -   - 8 12 8 0 60.00% List
NSW Country 1992-97   6 2 -   - 8 4 2 0 66.67% List
Overall1992-1998   26 4 0   0 16 16 10 0 61.54% List


Club Career

NSWRL/ARL/NRL Premiership - By Year

Team Season   App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Newcastle NSWRL 1988 Winfield Cup   5 - -   - - 1 4 0 20.00% List
Newcastle NSWRL 1989 Winfield Cup   9 1 -   - 4 4 5 0 44.44% List
Newcastle NSWRL 1990 Winfield Cup   9 - -   - - 4 4 1 44.44% List
Newcastle NSWRL 1991 Winfield Cup   16 - -   - - 4 12 0 25.00% List
Newcastle NSWRL 1992 Winfield Cup   15 - -   - - 9 4 2 60.00% List
Newcastle NSWRL 1993 Winfield Cup   14 2 -   - 8 6 8 0 42.86% List
Newcastle NSWRL 1994 Winfield Cup   18 7 -   - 28 8 10 0 44.44% List
Newcastle ARL 1995 Winfield Cup   24 4 -   - 16 17 7 0 70.83% List
Newcastle ARL 1996 Optus Cup   19 2 -   - 8 9 8 2 47.37% List
Newcastle ARL 1997 Optus Cup   21 1 -   - 4 13 7 1 61.90% List
Newcastle 1998 NRL Premiership   14 - -   - - 11 3 0 78.57% List
Newcastle 1999 NRL Premiership   6 2 -   - 8 5 1 0 83.33% List

NSWRL/ARL/NRL Premiership - By Team

Team Years   App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Newcastle 1988-99   170 19 -   - 76 91 73 6 53.53% List

Your Say

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

Contributions: Rugby League Tables, Andrew Ferguson, Shawn Dollin, Paul Carter, Greg Fiveash, Alan Katzmann, AJ Lucantonio, Max Turner, Tony McCarron, Steven Russo, Bill Bates

Sources: David Middleton's Rugby League Yearbook (1987-88 to present)