Playing Career
Vital Statistics
- Full Name
- Royce Michael Simmons
- Born
- Monday, 2nd May, 1960
- Current Age
- 64 years and 22 days
- Place Of Birth
- Gooloongong, New South Wales, Australia
Awards & Accolades
Biography
Born in the country town of Gooloogong near Cowra, Simmons was a Country U’16s RU rep (touring Tasmania as a halfback). He played first grade rugby league for both Cowra and Canowindra as a teenager before coming to Sydney and trialling with both St George (1979) and Souths (1980). Simmons finally earned a contract with Penrith after being recommended to Panthers coach Len Stacker by former P’matta team-mate, international centre Barry Rushworth. After making his first grade debut in 1980, he played lock for much of 1981 before snaring the top hooker spot from Jim Jones in 1981. Taking over as captain in 1983, Simmons was consistently one of Penrith's best players during the club's ‘easy-beats’ days. He won his first NSW jersey in 1984 (after originally being overlooked in favour of NSW Country’s Rex Wright) and two years later, became the first Penrith player to represent Australia. In 1986 Simmons bounced back from a heavy knock to win the man-of-the-match award in the first State of Origin match in Brisbane and NSW’s 3-0 series win guaranteed him a spot in the Australian Test team. He made his ‘green and gold’ debut against NZ at Carlaw Park - the first of 10 Test appearances over the next year including all six Tests on the Kangaroo Tour. His final Test was the 13-6 loss to NZ in 1987 after retaining his NSW spot despite being snubbed by Country Origin selectors. After being dropped from the NSW side in 1988, Simmons was overlooked for further rep honours. At Penrith he maintained a battle against injury to retain his first grade position but after leading the club to their first grand final (a loss to Canberra in 1990) he was relieved of the club captaincy by Panthers coach Phil Gould. Simmons struggled through much of his last season but exited the game triumphantly with two incredible tries in the 19-12 grand final against the Raiders to capture the Panthers' first premiership. He went to English Club Hull to start his coaching career and it was almost fate that he was back in Australia and ready to take over from Phil Gould toward the end of the 1994 season. Simmons coached Penrith to the semi-finals in 1997’s Super League season, and again in 2000, but ultimately paid the price for showing loyalty to his players during the club’s disastrous 2001 season. A laconic, laid-back character with a dry wit, Simmons steadfastly refused to blame his players for the team’s poor showing– supporting long-serving captain Steve Carter’s when his form wavered and persevering with Craig Gower as hooker so that the young rake could make the Kangaroo Tour. Despite refraining from publicly criticising the club’s failure to buy new players, Simmons was released from the remaining two years of his contract when the club finished with the wooden spoon. In 2003 he linked with former Penrith team-mate and first grade coach, Tim Sheens, at the W’Tigers. Autobiography: Hooked on League (2001).
- 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 % | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Midweek Cup | 19 | 1 | - | 1 | 4 | 10 | 8 | 1 | 52.63% | List | ||||
NSWRFL/NSWRL Premiership (NRL) | 237 | 15 | 1 | 3 | 61 | 115 | 118 | 4 | 48.52% | List | ||||
Preseason Cup | 3 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 33.33% | List | ||||
City vs Country Firsts | 2 | - | - | - | - | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | ||||
State of Origin | 10 | 1 | - | - | 4 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 60.00% | List | ||||
NSWRFL/NSWRL Finals | 8 | 3 | - | - | 12 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 50.00% | List | ||||
Tour Matches | Australia | 14 | - | - | - | - | 13 | 1 | 0 | 92.86% | List | |||
Test Series | 6 | - | - | - | - | 6 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | ||||
World Cup | 4 | - | - | - | - | 4 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | ||||
The Ashes | 3 | - | - | - | - | 3 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | ||||
City vs Country | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | ||||
Challenge Cup AU | 8 | 1 | - | - | 4 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 75.00% | List | ||||
World Club Challenge | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | ||||
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Test Matches - By Team | ||||||||||||||
Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
Australia | 1986-87 | 10 | - | - | - | - | 9 | 1 | 0 | 90.00% | List | |||
World Cup Matches - By Team | ||||||||||||||
Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
Australia | 1986 | 4 | - | - | - | - | 4 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
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Australia - By Team | ||||||||||||||
Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
NSW | 1984, 1986-88 | 10 | 1 | - | - | 4 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 60.00% | List | |||
NSW City Firsts | 1984, 1986 | 2 | - | - | - | - | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
NSW Country | 1988 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | |||
Overall | 1984-1988 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 61.54% | List | |||
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NSWRFL/NSWRL Premiership (NRL) - By Year | ||||||||||||||
Team | Season | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
Penrith | NSWRFL 1980 | 4 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0.00% | List | |||
Penrith | NSWRFL 1981 | 21 | 1 | - | 1 | 4 | 8 | 13 | 0 | 38.10% | List | |||
Penrith | NSWRFL 1982 | 22 | 3 | - | - | 9 | 6 | 15 | 1 | 27.27% | List | |||
Penrith | NSWRFL 1983 | 25 | 2 | - | - | 8 | 9 | 16 | 0 | 36.00% | List | |||
Penrith | NSWRL 1984 | 22 | 2 | - | 1 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 1 | 45.45% | List | |||
Penrith | NSWRL 1985 | 26 | 2 | - | - | 8 | 14 | 11 | 1 | 53.85% | List | |||
Penrith | NSWRL 1986 | 20 | - | - | - | - | 8 | 12 | 0 | 40.00% | List | |||
Penrith | NSWRL 1987 | 19 | 1 | - | 1 | 5 | 6 | 13 | 0 | 31.58% | List | |||
Penrith | NSWRL 1988 | 22 | - | - | - | - | 14 | 8 | 0 | 63.64% | List | |||
Penrith | NSWRL 1989 | 24 | - | - | - | - | 16 | 8 | 0 | 66.67% | List | |||
Penrith | NSWRL 1990 | 21 | 2 | - | - | 8 | 13 | 7 | 1 | 61.90% | List | |||
Penrith | NSWRL 1991 | 11 | 2 | 1 | / | 1 | 100.00% | - | 10 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List |
NSWRFL/NSWRL Premiership (NRL) - By Team | ||||||||||||||
Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
Penrith | 1980-91 | 237 | 15 | 1 | 3 | 61 | 115 | 118 | 4 | 48.52% | List |
Contributions:
AJ Lucantonio, Paul Carter, Rugby League Tables, Shawn Dollin, Andrew Ferguson, Greg Fiveash, Greg Stroud, Alan Katzmann, Max Turner, Bill Bates
Sources:
David Middleton's Rugby League Yearbook (1987-88 to present), Match Video
Your Say
05/05/2016
Royce came to Hull F C when they where at the bottom and brought spirit back in the club improved the side 100% and I think if he had have stayed Hull F C would have gone on to even better things at that time.
17/05/2023
Royceeeeee dead set panther legend
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