Willie Carne

William Carne (born 23 January 1969 in Roma, Queensland) is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played for the Brisbane Broncos from 1990 to 1996, as well as representing both Queensland and Australia. An attacking player with dangerous speed, his position of choice was wing.

Background

Willie Carne attended Ipswich Grammar School, of which former Brisbane Broncos Kevin Walters, Kerrod Walters and Allan Langer are also Alumni. In his younger days, Carne played for the Roma Wattles.

Broncos

During the early 1990s, Carne was considered the best rugby league winger in the world. In 1990 he played his first season with the Brisbane Broncos' and that year he was the club's rookie of the year and top try-scorer. He helped his team to their back-to-back Premiership wins in 1992 and 1993 when he was again the club's top try-scorer. Carne was then named man-of-the-match in the opening game of the 1994 State of Origin series.

In his final season for the Broncos, Carne assumed the position of goal kicker, as Julian O'Neill, the previous goal kicker, had been sacked in 1995. After another failure by the Broncos in the 1996 season, Carne (despite being the top point-scorer for Brisbane that year) was one of four players asked by coach Wayne Bennett to leave the club since he could no longer guarantee them places in the Broncos' first grade team. Carne played a total of 151 first-grade games for the Broncos.

On August 5, 2007, Carne was inducted into the Brisbane Broncos Hall Of Fame.

Rugby union

Carne subsequently defected to rugby union, making his debut in a Queensland Reds trial match. Although his opening performance was described by coach John Connolly as 'a pass' Fact|date=April 2007, Carne struggled in rugby union [http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/536641/830551] and was unable to secure a place in the Reds's regular line-up. Later that season he retired from professional sport altogether Fact|date=April 2007.

Representative career

Carne made his State of Origin debut in 1990 for Queensland. He also played at the sport's highest level, representing Australia. He enjoyed an outstanding tryscoring debut in Australia's 44-0 win over New Zealand in Sydney in 1991, and also scored in the series decider in Brisbane. Carne was also an integral part of the winning Austalian team in the 1992 World Cup. He was made man of the match of the opening game of the State of Origin Series in 1994 after a strong performance, which included his scoring a try, successfully diffusing a NSW bomb and having an important hand in the last-minute try which resulted in a spectacular Queensland victory.

In 1995, Carne was one of a number of players who were not considered for selection for the Origin series as a result of having signed contracts with Super League. In 1996, Carne made an Origin comeback in the third and final game after the policy of excluding Super League players was lifted. Carne played an attacking game, looking dangerous at various moments of the match with impressive runs and occasional breaks.

In the year 2000 Carne was awarded the Australian Sports Medal for his contribution to Australia's international standing in the sport of rugby league.

Representative Honours

*Queensland (1990-1996, 12 games: 5 tries, 3 goals)
** Man of the Match, Game 1 1994
*Australia (1991-1993, 9 Tests: 10 tries)

Brisbane Broncos Club Honours

*Rookie of the Year: 1990
*Best Back: 1993
*Record for Most Tries in Consecutive Games: 8 (Cronulla, Seagulls, Souths, Illawarra, St George, Canberra, Canterbury, Wests) May 18 to July 13, 1990
*6th Highest All-Time Tryscorer: 76 (All Games), 72 (Premiership Games)

Brisbane Broncos Club Scoring Statistics

*Games: 151
*Tries: 72
*Goals: 63/103 (61.17%)
*Field Goals: 0
*Points: 414

References

External links

*StateofOrigin player|296
*FOGS player|70