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Billy Slater

Personal information
Full name	Billy Slater
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	87 kg (13 st 9 lb)
Playing information
Position	Fullback
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 2003– Melbourne Storm 126 81 0 0 324 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 2004– Queensland Maroons 8 5 0 0 20 2008– Australia 1 0 0 0 0
As of 25 August 2008

Billy Slater (born 18 June 1983 in Nambour, Queensland) is an Australian rugby league player for the Melbourne Storm in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. He has also played for Queensland and Australia. His preferred position is fullback; though he can also play at centre or on the wings.

Playing career

Billy began playing rugby league for the Brothers club in Innisfail, Queensland at only four years old. He continued to make the Innisfail representative side every season until his final year with the club.

At fifteen years of age he become bored with league so he quit to concentrate on one of his other passions, riding horses. He worked with the famous Waterhouse stable for around half a year winning the melbourne cup in 1998.

He began to play league again after returning home and early in 2001 he drove 20 hours to Brisbane to trial with the Norths Devils. He was offered a contract and after two impressive seasons in the Queensland Cup, he was offered a spot on the Melbourne Storm playing roster.

2003 season

Slater commenced playing for the Melbourne Storm in 2003 and his impressive debut performance should have seen him awarded the Dally M Rookie of the Year award, but these awards were cancelled by the NRL due to threats of a boycott by the Players Association. He has consistently performed since then. He is notable for his speed, instinctive style of play and an ability to inject himself into games at key moments.

2004 season

Billy Slater against the Manly Sea Eagles in August, 2008.

Slater continued his good form into 2004, earning his first representative honours with a berth on the wing in the Queensland State of Origin team. Slater had a quiet but solid first game and retained his spot on the team for the second game of the series at Suncorp Stadium. It was in this game that Billy Slater, days shy of his 21st birthday, became a household name in rugby league, scoring a brace of tries including one of the greatest individual tries in State of Origin history. Trailing 14-12 and 60 metres from the tryline, Darren Lockyer grubbered a kick through the New South Wales defensive line which Slater raced onto, before chip-kicking over the top of fullback, Anthony Minichiello, regathering and scoring. Slater's performance earned him Man of the Match honours.

Slater would score a try in the decider but couldn't stop a Brad Fittler inspired New South Wales side from clinching the series. Billy's club form helped his team finish 6th on the ladder, defeating the Brisbane Broncos in the first game of the finals before succumbing to eventual premiers, the Canterbury Bulldogs. Following his stellar season, Slater was named in the Kangaroo squad to tour Europe but injury prevented him from partaking in the tour. He would have to wait 4 years for another call up to the Australian team.

2005 season

Billy Slater once again impressed in his 3rd NRL season. Slater would score a slew of brilliant individual tries this season, which didn't go unnoticed by selectors and once again Slater was picked for the Queensland State of Origin team, this time at his preferred position of fullback. Queensland would win game one by golden point in extra time, thanks to a brilliant intercept from Matt Bowen. Slater returned for the second game in Sydney which saw the return of the mercurial Andrew Johns who spearheaded a New South Wales' victory. Despite losing the match, Slater pounced on a knock on from Anthony Minichiello to score a length of the field try during the match. In search for a scapegoat, Billy Slater was unceremoniously dumped from the Queensland side for the deciding third game in Brisbane. Queensland subsequently lost.

Through ill fortune with injuries and suspensions, Slater would have to wait three years for another chance at State of Origin. Slater continued his brilliant form throughout 2005, topping the try scoring charts with 20 tries for Melbourne. Melbourne would once again finish 6th in the league and defeat the Brisbane Broncos in the first game of the finals before succumbing to an in form North Queensland Cowboys outfit.

2006 season

Slater had a forgettable 2006 season. He was suspended in round 4 for seven matches for kicking Wests Tigers prop John Skandalis. In his comeback game in round 13 against the Sydney Roosters, Slater only played 25 minutes of the second half on the wing and was later found guilty of using a dangerous throw on Roosters centre Ryan Cross. He was suspended for 2 matches. After Slater's second suspension, Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy decided to give Slater some warm up matches for his comeback into first grade with both North Sydney Bears (Melbourne's feeder club in the NSWRL Premier League) and Norths Devils (Melbourne's feeder club in the Queensland Cup).

He made his NRL comeback in round 18 playing his preferred fullback position when Melbourne Storm defeated the Brisbane Broncos at Olympic Park 10-4 in front of 15,479 fans. In round 22 against the Wests Tigers, he was given a two match suspension for a late forearm, which was his third suspension for the season. He came back to the main lineup in round 25 against the Canberra Raiders. A few weeks later, he played in his first grand final, where, despite losing to the Brisbane Broncos, he played a fine game.

2007 season

Slater had been quiet to start the 2007 season, not taking notice of the Queensland selectors. In round 11, he suffered a badly broken cheekbone against Manly when he tried to charge down former team mate Matt Orford's kick, and collided with teammate Sam Tagataese. On his return from injury, he has been in career best form, scoring 8 tries from 9 appearances and becoming a vital cog in the back line of the Storm, setting up over 20 tries this season. He was part of the 2007 NRL Premiership team, beating Manly Sea-Eagles 34-8. Some felt he was unlucky to miss out on the Clive Churchill medal for best player on the ground for his effort in the game and gaining 182 meters.

2008 season

His start to the 2008 NRL season can be described as nothing short of sensational. He scored 3 tries in Melbourne's 32-18 round one win at the Telstra Dome,one at the Sydney Football Stadium in a third round, 10-6 loss to Sydney Roosters and two at Olympic Park in Melbourne's 26-4 win over the Manly Sea Eagles. After his scintilating start, Slater garnered praise from league experts such as Laurie Daley and Andrew Johns as being the best player in the game.

Finally Slater's form was rewarded when he was selected at fullback for the Australian national team in the Centenary Test against New Zealand, displacing incumbent, Brett Stewart. Slater had a modest game in attack for Australia but proved his worth by making numerous try-saving tackles in Australia's 28-12 victory. Two weeks later, Slater was selected to once again represent Queensland in the State of Origin series, this time displacing incumbent, Karmichael Hunt from fullback to five-eighth.

In game I, Slater had a mixed performance for Queensland throwing a few loose passes despite running over 220 metres and making a line break that nearly resulted in a try to Greg Inglis. Queensland would eventually go down 18-10. Slater returned for game two but was dropped to the interchange bench before replacing Karmichael Hunt 30 minutes into the match. Slater appeared dangerous with a line break and a near assist to Darius Boyd but his final pass was ruled forward. Despite not scoring, Queensland eventually won 30-0.

In State of Origin 3 Slater would once again start from the bench with Karmichael Hunt starting at fullback. A broken arm to Scott Prince in 17 minutes, forced Slater to fullback with Karmichael Hunt switching to five eighth. Slater broke the line with his first touch and kick return of the game. He was excellent under the high ball, thwarting many attacking kicks. With just 10 minutes to go, Johnathan Thurston broke the New South Wales line, drawing in the fullback before passing the ball to Slater who ran the remaining 30 metres to score the match-winning try and a 16-10 victory. It was Billy Slater's first series win for Queensland.

In round 19, Slater was involved in an all-in brawl in a match against the St George Dragons. He was sin-binned for throwing several upper-cuts on winger, Jason Nightingale. He had a two-match suspension downgraded to one after claiming Nightingale had provoked him with several head-butts throughout the match.

The finals would prove dramatic for the Melbourne Storm. In their first match they were upset by the New Zealand Warriors, losing the game in the final minute. The following week against the Brisbane Broncos, their fate looked all but sealed trailing 14-12 with 90 seconds to go. A dropped ball by the Broncos gifted Melbourne posession with seconds remaining and they pounced on an overlap with Greg Inglis sealing victory. Their Grand-final qualifier was a mismatch with the Storm triumphing easily over the Cronulla Sharks, 28-0.

In August 2008, Slater was named in the preliminary 46-man Kangaroos squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup, and in October 2008 he was selected in the final 24-man Australia squad.

He played in the 2008 NRL Grand Final defeat to the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles. He was named the Melbourne club's player of the year.

Dally M controversy

In September, Slater narrowly missed out on the Dally M, player of the year, finishing 2 points behind Manly's Matt Orford. A one week suspension in round 19 robbed Slater of the Dally M medal deducting 3 points from his tally which would have won him the medal. Many experts viewed Slater's suspension and subsequent point deduction as harsh and called for a rule change regarding the Dally M medal.

Representative games

• Queensland: 8 games total for Queensland in the State of Origin
• Australia: 1 game total for Australia

External links

• Billy Slater Official Profile
• Billy Slater Official Player Statistics
• Template:StateofOrigin player
• Billy Slater at the Former Origin Greats website.