Preston Campbell

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Preston Campbell, (born 7 June 1977 in Inverell, New South Wales) is an Australian rugby league player for the Gold Coast Titans Rugby League Club in the National Rugby League competition. Campbell's position of choice is at five-eighth although he also frequently plays at fullback.

[edit] Playing career

[edit] Early career

Campbell started his Rugby League career with the Inverell Hawks junior club and made his A Grade debut with the Gold Coast Chargers in 1998 as a fullback.

[edit] Cronulla Sharks

Preston moved on to play for the Cronulla Sharks in 1999 for several seasons. He spent the first several seasons biding his time in reserve grade and occasionally filling in for injuries in first grade. It was in 2001 that he showed what he was capable of with his feats as a replacement fullback for the injured David Peachey. His electrifying speed and side-step combined with his diminutive stature and humility quickly endeared him to Cronulla fans.

It was expected by some that he would eventually return to the lower grades until he was needed again but coach John Lang had other ideas. Clearly Campbell was too talented to be wasted playing in reserve grade. With the return of David Peachey, he was no longer needed at fullback and Cronulla was struggling without a recognised halfback. Finding the solution to two problems Lang pencilled in Campbell for the halfback role. It was here that Campbell truly made his mark in Rugby League. Combining with David Peachey and pivot Adam Dykes, the trio formed a devastating combination on the field and were almost unstoppable as Cronulla pushed forward and made a serious bid for its 2001 finals campaign including one memorable game when Premiership favourites the Newcastle Knights were soundly beaten by a rampant Peachey and Campbell.

At the end of 2001, Preston Campbell was awarded the Dally M Player of the Year, beating Andrew Johns, the Newcastle Knights captain, by one point and became Cronulla's third Dally M medallist.

In 2002, with the arrival of new coach Chris Anderson and former Test halfback Brett Kimmorley at the club, his world came crashing down when he learned he was to be overlooked from his preferred halfback role in place of Kimmorley and would instead be moved to the unfamiliar position of hooker. After several disastrous games and seemingly very little interest in playing, he was dropped to reserve grade and, stating his desire to return to the position he had made his own, requested a release from Cronulla which was eventually granted in early August, 2002.^[1]

[edit] Penrith Panthers

On August 7, 2002, it was announced that Campbell had agreed to terms with the Penrith Panthers (then under the guidance of his former mentor, John Lang) for a three year term. Although Campbell had been given no guarantees on which position he would play, he said that he was looking forward to playing under John Lang once more.^[2]

In his first season with the Penrith Panthers in 2003, and back in his more familiar role at halfback/five-eighth, he proved to be a great asset to the team, playing every minute of every match for the entire season.

Campbell was a member of the 2003 grand final winning Panthers team, scoring three goals.

[edit] Gold Coast Titans

In 2005, with two seasons still to play with the Panthers, Campbell was the inaugural signing for the newly admitted NRL club, Gold Coast Titans. Campbell signed a three-year contract which commenced in 2007.^[3] Due to injury to other players such as Chris Walker, Campbell spent much of the 2007 season at fullback.

Campbell has been electrifying during the 2007 season and has started the 2008 form in near career-top form. He has recently extended his contract with the Titans.

[edit] References