Brian Carney (rugby)

Brian Carney

Personal information
Born	(1976-07-23)23 July 1976 Cork,Ireland
Playing information
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight	14 st 5 lb (91 kg)
Rugby league
Position	Wing
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1997–99 Dublin Blues 1999 Gateshead Thunder 5 2 0 0 8 2000 Hull FC 19 8 0 0 32 2001–05 Wigan Warriors 111 48 1 0 194 2006 Newcastle Knights 26 16 0 0 64 2009 Warrington Wolves 4 2 0 0 8 Total 165 76 1 0 306 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1998–00 Ireland 8 3 0 0 12 2003–06 Great Britain 14 8 0 0 32 2003 Lancashire 1 0 0 0 0
Rugby union
Position	Wing
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 2007–09 Munster 20 5 1 0 27 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 2007–09 Ireland 4 1 0 0 5 2009 Ireland 7s 5 3 0 0 15
Source:

Brian Carney(born 23 July 1976) is an Irish professionalrugby leaguecommentator and formerdual-code rugby internationalplayer. He most recently played rugby league forWarrington Wolves(Heritage № 1086), but he also played forGateshead Thunder,Hull F.C.(Heritage № 979) andWigan Warriorsin theSuper League,as well asNewcastle Knights(Heritage № 182) in theNRL.Carney crossed codes to playrugby unionforMunsterbetween 2007 and 2009. He earnedcapsfor international representation, for Ireland in bothrugby leagueandrugby union,and alsoGreat Britain and Irelandin rugby league.He also playedGaelic footballas a junior.

Carney is one of the presenters for Sky's coverage ofGaelic gameswhich started in June 2014.

Early life

Carney playedGaelic footballforValleymount GAAin west county Wicklow and won a junior championship medal in 1998 with the club. He also played rugby union atClongowes Wood CollegeandLansdowne R.F.C.His first rugby league experience came with Irish amateursDublin Blues.

Rugby league

Carney first made an impression on the rugby league scene playing for the Irish Students side in a home international tournament in 1998. His impressive form led to a number ofSuper Leagueclubs vying for his talents and he opted to sign withGateshead Thunder.

Super League

Carney played for Gateshead in the 1999 season and moved with them toHull F.C.after the clubs merged in 2000.

Carney transferred from Hull F.C. toWiganat the end of the 2000Super Leagueseason. He had come to the attention of the Wigan board – who were very impressed with him – when he scored a try against Wigan in Gateshead's Super League on the Road victory atTynecastle.Future Wigan scrum-halfWillie Peters,also shone in the same match. Since making the professional ranks, Carney, who is a qualified lawyer, was a regular in the senior colours of Ireland and featured heavily in the Lincoln Financial World Cup of 2000. Carney played forWiganon the wing in their2001 Super League Grand Finalloss againstBradford.

Carney signed a new three-year contract with Wigan in May 2003, ending speculation that had been linking him with a move to Irish rugby union. After signing the deal, Carney commented: "I love it here at Wigan. I never wanted to play for any other club. I just want to get better and better each week and keep my place in the first team. The spirit and friendship at this club is brilliant and I need to be part of it." His arrival at Wigan was initially hampered by injury but when he did break into the team, he was impressive. Carney played forWiganon the wing in the2003 Super League Grand Finalwhich was lost toBradford.He'd forced himself into theGreat Britainteam for the2003 Ashes series.Carney made his GB and Ireland début in the First Test played at theJJB Stadium,becoming the first Irishman to play for Great Britain and Ireland sinceTom McKinneyin 1957. In that match Carney scored two tries and was later named Great Britain and Ireland's player of the series.Carney was selected for the 2003 Origin match after opting to play forLancashire.He was also included in the 2003 Super League 'Dream Team' and the 2003 Rugby League World magazine World XIII, and voted BBC North West's Rugby League Footballer of the Year in the same season.

Despite ahamstringinjury restricting his club appearances, Carney was selected in theGreat Britain teamto compete in the end of season2004 Rugby League Tri-Nationstournament. In the final againstAustraliahe played on the wing in the Lions' 44–4 loss.

National Rugby League

In June 2005 Carney agreed to join newNational Rugby Leaguefranchise team, Australia'sGold Coast Titans,at the end of his Wigan contract. Upon signing the deal, Gold Coast managing directorMichael Searletold NRL's official website, www.nrl.com: "The guy genuinely wanted to come here. He wants to challenge himself in the National Rugby League".

Carney was to remain at Wigan for the 2006 season, but a month later he agreed a release from the final year of his Wigan contract to play in the NRL withNewcastle.At the time Carney commented: "I'm very grateful to Wigan, they didn't have to do it (release him from his contract) but I explained my desire to get there because I feel time is running out." Carney made his debut for the Newcastle club at the age of 29 years, 231 days, making him the oldest player in theNRLera (since 1998) to make his first grade debut. Carney scored 16 tries in 26 games for Newcastle, including guiding his team to a 22–12 victory over theCanberra Raiderswith a hat-trick of tries. After the game Carney expressed no desire to remain with the Newcastle club, choosing to honour his contract with the Gold Coast. However, on 16 January 2007 he announced his retirement from all forms of rugby after only participating in one training session with the Gold Coast, indicating that he wished to finish his legal studies and spend more time with his family.

Carney playing for Munster in 2007

Rugby union

On Thursday 15 March 2007, BBC Sport reported that Carney had signed forMunster,switching to rugby union, with speculation rife that he would be fast-tracked onto Ireland's team for its tour of Argentina in summer 2007.Because he had walked out on his contract with theGold Coast Titans,Munster had to pay compensation to the Australian club to secure Carney's registration. Carney made his début for Munster, againstUlsteratRavenhillon 23 March 2007, scoring a try in the 76th minute. He scored his second try in two matches in an away loss toOspreyson 7 April. In April 2007, Carney was named in theIrelandsquad for theirtour of Argentina.In the first Test, Carney's rugby union international début, he scored an interception try minutes into the game.

Carney was selected in the Irish squad for the2007 Rugby Union World Cup.However, he did not make an appearance at the tournament.

Carney made a try-scoring début for theBarbariansagainst theScarletson 31 January 2009. He participated in theDubai World Cup Sevensas part of a 12-man Irish squad, finishing up as joint-highest Irish try scorer with three tries. Though Ireland was in a tough pool stage, including Samoa, Australia, and Portugal, Ireland did manage to defeat Australia 24–21, with Carney getting a try. He scored two more tries in the Bowl semi-final victory over Hong Kong. They went on to lose 17–14 to Zimbabwe in the Bowl Final, for an overall ranking of 10th.

Return to rugby league

On 2 June 2009, theWarrington Wolvesannounced that they had signed Carney for the remainder of 2009'sSuper League XIV.The move was Carney's fifth signing to a rugby league team in his playing career, at the age of 32.On 2 June 2009 edition of theSky Sportsrugby league magazine show,Boots N' All,Carney vehemently denied that a return to rugby league would lead to a subsequent career with theEngland national team,in favour of his ownnative team.Carney provided commentary for Sky Sport's coverage of the2009 Super League Grand Final,and the 2009 Gillette Four Nations tournament. He finished his career at Warrington at the end of 2009 and regularly appears onSky Sports.

See also

• List of players who have converted from one football code to another

External links

• !Great Britain Statistics at englandrl.co.uk (statistics currently missing due to not having appeared forbothGreat Britain,andEngland)
• Statistics at wigan.rlfans.com
• Munster profile
• (archived by web.archive.org)Ireland profile
• Statistics at wolvesplayers.thisiswarrington.co.uk