The Most Famous

RUGBY PLAYERS from Australia

Icon of occuation in country

This page contains a list of the greatest Australian Rugby Players. The pantheon dataset contains 35 Rugby Players, NaN of which were born in Australia. This makes Australia the birth place of the 0th most number of Rugby Players.

Top 7

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Australian Rugby Players of all time. This list of famous Australian Rugby Players is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

Photo of Israel Folau

1. Israel Folau (b. 1989)

With an HPI of 21.93, Israel Folau is the most famous Australian Rugby Player.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages on wikipedia.

Israel ‘Isileli Folau (Tongan: [fo'lɑʊ̯]; born 3 April 1989) is a professional dual-code rugby player who plays as a fullback for Japan Rugby League One club Urayasu D-Rocks. Born in Australia, he represents Tonga at international level after qualifying on ancestry grounds. Folau began his professional career playing rugby league. Representing the Melbourne Storm in the National Rugby League (NRL) from 2007 to 2008, where he broke the record for most tries in a debut year. He then played with the Brisbane Broncos from 2009 to 2010. Playing as a wing or centre, Folau represented Queensland in the State of Origin and Australia, becoming the youngest player to play for both teams. In 2020, Folau played for the French rugby league team the Catalans Dragons in the Super League. In 2011, Folau joined the Greater Western Sydney Giants in the Australian Football League (AFL) and played for two seasons. In December 2012, Folau announced he was to switch codes again, this time for rugby union, and signed a one-year contract with the Waratahs. He would later become the record holder for the most tries scored in Super Rugby history post the 2019 season. At international level, he made his debut for Australia in 2013 against the British & Irish Lions, and went on to earn 73 caps. In 2022, Folau switched allegiance in order to represent Tonga after World Rugby announced its new eligibility laws. Folau's statements about homosexuality brought him into conflict with the administrators of Rugby Australia, and in 2019 they terminated his contract. Alleging that Rugby Australia terminated his employment on the basis of religion, Folau commenced proceedings in the Fair Work Commission but was unable to reach a settlement with Rugby Australia. He subsequently commenced proceedings in the Federal Circuit Court of Australia and a confidential settlement between the two parties was released on 4 December 2019.

Photo of Nick Malouf

2. Nick Malouf (b. 1993)

With an HPI of 0.00, Nick Malouf is the 2nd most famous Australian Rugby Player.  His biography has been translated into different languages.

Nick Malouf (born 19 March 1993) is an Australian professional rugby union player who plays as a back for the Australia national sevens team.

Photo of Sharni Williams

3. Sharni Williams (b. 1988)

With an HPI of 0.00, Sharni Williams is the 3rd most famous Australian Rugby Player.  Her biography has been translated into different languages.

Sharni Maree Williams (born 2 March 1988) is a female Australian rugby union player. She has played in the centre position for Australia, the Brumbies, and from 2008 to 2012 for the Canberra Royals. She won a gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.

Photo of Lachie Anderson

4. Lachie Anderson (b. 1997)

With an HPI of 0.00, Lachie Anderson is the 4th most famous Australian Rugby Player.  His biography has been translated into different languages.

Lachlan Anderson (born 27 August 1997) is an Australian professional rugby union footballer who plays wing for Super Rugby franchise the Rebels and the Australia national rugby sevens team. In his early career, he was selected to play in the 2017 World Rugby Under 20 Championships for Australia and plays for Shute Shield club Eastwood. Anderson grew up in Baulkham Hills and played rugby for Dural rugby club. He was educated at Oakhill College where he played rugby and captained the first XV, the top representative team in secondary school with rugby league player Ryan Papenhuyzen. In rugby sevens he made his World Rugby Sevens Series debut in Sydney in 2017. Anderson has also represented his country at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Anderson was a member of the Australian men's rugby seven's squad at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The team came third in their pool round and then lost to Fiji 19-nil in the quarterfinal.

Photo of Jesse Parahi

5. Jesse Parahi (b. 1989)

With an HPI of 0.00, Jesse Parahi is the 5th most famous Australian Rugby Player.  His biography has been translated into different languages.

Jesse Parahi (born 29 July 1989) is an Australian rugby union player. He plays rugby sevens for Australia 7s. He made his international debut at the 2010 Edinburgh Sevens. In November 2015 Parahi briefly left the Australian sevens team to play for Wests Tigers in the NRL. After eight months in rugby league he decided to switch back to rugby sevens and rejoined the team for the 2016 Paris Sevens. Parahi was named in Australia's sevens squad for the 2016 Summer Olympics. Parahi is of New Zealand Māori descent, and affiliates with the Ngāti Kahungunu iwi (tribe). Parahi and his wife Carlien run an occupational therapy program - Sense Rugby - created to help kids who usually find it difficult to be part of a sports team get involved in sport and physical activity. www.senserugby.com.au

Photo of Tia Hinds

6. Tia Hinds (b. 2002)

With an HPI of 0.00, Tia Hinds is the 6th most famous Australian Rugby Player.  Her biography has been translated into different languages.

Tia Hinds (born 5 November 2002) is an Australian rugby union player and two-time Olympian.

Photo of Maurice Longbottom

7. Maurice Longbottom (b. 1995)

With an HPI of 0.00, Maurice Longbottom is the 7th most famous Australian Rugby Player.  His biography has been translated into different languages.

Maurice Longbottom (born 30 January 1995) is an Australian professional rugby union player who plays as a back for the Australia national sevens team.

People

Pantheon has 7 people classified as Australian rugby players born between 1988 and 2002. Of these 7, 7 (100.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Australian rugby players include Israel Folau, Nick Malouf, and Sharni Williams. As of April 2024, 7 new Australian rugby players have been added to Pantheon including Israel Folau, Nick Malouf, and Sharni Williams.

Living Australian Rugby Players

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Newly Added Australian Rugby Players (2024)

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous