Chris Lawrence (rugby league)

Chris Lawrence (born 19 October 1988 in Sydney, New South Wales) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer for the Wests Tigers of the National Rugby League (NRL). A former Australian international representative, Lawrence primarily plays centre, but can also fill in at five-eighth and second-row.

Lawrence played junior football with Eaglevale St Andrews. While attending St Gregory's College, Campbelltown, he played for the Australian Schoolboys team in 2006.

2006-2010

In Round 21 of the 2006 season he made his debut for the Wests Tigers against the Brisbane Broncos up at Suncorp Stadium. He is the youngest player to have debuted for the Tigers, at 17 years and 283 days old. He scored a try in that match and played in every match for the remainder of the year, picking up two tries in five matches of his rookie season. The following year Lawrence played in eighteen of the Tigers' twenty-five matches as he went on to score sixteen first grade tries.

Lawrence studied Exercise and Sports Science at Sydney University.

In 2007, Lawrence was selected to tour Papua New Guinea as a member of the Prime Minister's XIII. Lawrence backed up his two try performance in 2007 with another double in 2008 for the PM'S XIII.

Lawrence celebrated his 50th NRL match with two tries in the round 3 game against the Sydney Roosters on 27 March 2009.

He was selected for City in the City vs Country match on 8 May 2009, but was unable to play due to injuring his ankle the week before. In 2009 Lawrence was named in the 40 man New South Wales preliminary squad for State of Origin, but was not selected for any games. The following year he made his debut for City.

Aged just 21, Lawrence scored his 50th try towards the end of the 2010 season. He was named in the Australian squad for the Four Nations, and scored a try in his international debut against New Zealand in November.

2011-14

At the start of 2011, Lawrence signed a contract to remain with Wests Tigers until the end of 2015. He started the season with 4 tries from the first 3 matches, but then suffered a dislocated hip that kept him sidelined for over 3 months. A further injury to his hamstring saw Lawrence play in just 9 games for the season, but he was still selected in Australia's Four Nations squad, and played in every game of the series.

Lawrence played 20 games in 2012, sometimes playing at five-eighth due to injury in the halves. Lawrence admitted his form for the season was relatively poor, saying, "Not making the top eight was disappointing as a team but you need to look at each individual performance and, myself included, we just didn't perform how we should have. I put a lot of pressure on myself to be better. I was happy with the way I played in 2011 but sometimes [in 2012] circumstances through my fault, sometimes no one's fault, sometimes through different things, didn't allow it to pan out that way."

Playing under new coach Mick Potter in 2013, Lawrence had another injury-disrupted season, playing in 13 games. He had similar start to 2014 with hamstring problems. He said, "I know myself my form was good in the pre-season trials. I unfortunately picked up an injury before round one and have been carrying that for the last couple of weeks." In round 9, Lawrence co-captained the Wests Tigers for the first time, with Aaron Woods. He went on to play 21 games in 2014, but scored just 4 tries.

2015 onward

By the midpoint of the 2015 season, Lawrence had gone almost a year without scoring a try. New coach Jason Taylor moved him to the second row with Lawrence breaking his drought with two tries against the Gold Coast Titans in round 13. Lawrence said, "I played in the back row a bit when I first came into grade. Sheens put me in the back row, lock, five-eighth, on the wing and everywhere. It's a bit different being one closer to the middle so obviously you have to do a bit more of the tough stuff and a few more tackles so I just have to get my body a bit more used to that with the extra work."

Lawrence continued in the second row in 2016, but moved to five-eighth for one game in round 9 after Mitchell Moses was a late withdrawal after injuring himself in the warmup. With Aaron Woods missing games with injury, Lawrence co-captained the Tigers in his absence. In May, he was named as captain of City. He said, "Representing Australia was a career highlight but being told this is recognition of my leadership qualities on and off the field is special in a different way. I'm honoured and while we have a young side for someone like Brad Fittler to think of me to be his captain is humbling."

• First Grade Debut: 2006 – Round 21, Wests Tigers v Brisbane Broncos, Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, 18 May.
• NSW City Origin Debut: 2010 – NSW City Origin v NSW Country Origin, Carrington Park, Bathurst, New South Wales, 8 June.
• NSW City Origin Selection: 2010, 2012
• Prime Minister's XIII Debut: 2007 – Prime Minister's XIII v Papua New Guinea, Lloyd Robson Oval, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, 23 September.
• Prime Minister's XIII Selection: 2007-2008, 2012
• Australia Test Debut: 2010 – Rugby League Four Nations, Australia v New Zealand, Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand, 6 November.
• Australia Test Squad Selection: 2010-2011