View source for Tim Brasher

{{short description|Australia international rugby league footballer}}
{{BLP sources|date=April 2024}}
{{Use Australian English|date=July 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox rugby league biography
|name           = Tim Brasher
|fullname       = Timothy Brasher
|image          = 
|caption        =
|birth_date     = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1971|03|16}} 
|birth_place    = [[Sydney]], [[New South Wales]], [[Australia]]
|height         = {{convert|180|cm|ftin|abbr=on}}
|weight         = {{convert|86|kg|stlb|abbr=on}}
|position       = {{rlp|FB|CE|WG}}
|club1          = [[Balmain Tigers]]
|year1start     = 1989
|year1end       = 97
|appearances1   = 185
|tries1         = 82
|goals1         = 105
|fieldgoals1    = 0
|points1        = 538
|club2          = [[South Sydney Rabbitohs|South Sydney]]
|year2start     = 1998
|year2end       = 99
|appearances2   = 40
|tries2         = 14
|goals2         = 0
|fieldgoals2    = 0
|points2        = 56
|club3          = [[North Queensland Cowboys|North Qld Cowboys]]
|year3start     = 2000
|year3end       = 02
|appearances3   = 19
|tries3         = 4
|goals3         = 0
|fieldgoals3    = 0
|points3        = 16
|retired        = yes
|teamA          = [[New South Wales City rugby league team|NSW City Origin]]
|yearAstart     = 1992
|yearAend       = 97
|appearancesA   = 6
|triesA         = 1
|goalsA         = 2
|fieldgoalsA    = 0
|pointsA        = 8
|teamB          = [[New South Wales state rugby league team|New South Wales]]
|yearBstart     = 1992
|yearBend       = 00
|appearancesB   = 21
|triesB         = 3
|goalsB         = 9
|fieldgoalsB    = 0
|pointsB        = 30
|teamC          = [[Australian Kangaroos|Australia]]
|yearCstart     = 1992
|yearCend       = 98
|appearancesC   = 16
|triesC         = 8
|goalsC         = 0
|fieldgoalsC    = 0
|pointsC        = 32
|ru_position     = [[Wing (rugby union)|Wing]]
|ru_club1        = [[Bath Rugby|Bath]]
|ru_year1start   = 2003
|ru_year1end     = 
|ru_appearances1 = 3
|ru_tries1       = 0
|ru_goals1       = 0
|ru_fieldgoals1  = 0
|ru_points1      = 0
|source         = <ref>[http://rugbyleagueproject.com/players/Tim_Brasher.html Rugby League Project]</ref><ref>[http://www.yesterdayshero.com.au/PlayerProfile_Tim-Brasher_135.aspx Yesterday's Hero]</ref>
}}

'''Timothy Brasher''' (born 16 March 1971) is an Australian former [[rugby league]] footballer who primarily played as a {{rlp|fb}} in the 1990s and 2000s. He began his career with the [[Balmain Tigers]], where he played the majority of his career. He then moved to the [[South Sydney Rabbitohs]] for two seasons, before finishing his career with a season at the [[North Queensland Cowboys]]. During his career, he also represented [[New South Wales Rugby League team|New South Wales]] on 21 occasions and [[Australian Kangaroos|Australia]] on 16 occasions.

==Balmain==
While attending [[Hills Sports High School|Grantham High School]]<ref name=SC>{{cite web |url=https://www.schoolchoice.com.au/THE-HILLS-SPORTS-HIGH-SCHOOL/ |title=the Hills Sports High School |work=School Choice |publisher=Universal Magazines |date=2018 |access-date=7 July 2019 }}</ref> in [[Seven Hills, New South Wales|Seven Hills]] in Sydney, Brasher played for the [[Australia national schoolboys rugby league team|Australian Schoolboys team]] in 1988.<ref>{{cite web|title=SportingPulse Homepage for Australian Secondary Schools Rugby League |url=http://www.sportingpulse.com/assoc_page.cgi?c=7-2130-0-0-0&sID=26424 |access-date=10 October 2008| publisher=SportingPulse}}</ref> In 1989 [[Balmain Tigers]] coach [[Warren Ryan]] called up Brasher, still in high school, to make his first grade debut. Balmain reached the Grand Final that year, Brasher played in the centres, but they lost to the [[Canberra Raiders]] 19–14.

During the 1992 season, Brasher played most of the season on the wing, and he was the joint top try-scorer in the premiership (along with [[Western Suburbs Magpies|Wests']] [[Mark Bell (rugby league)|Mark Bell]]) with 16 tries. In the post season, he was selected at fullback in Australia's [[1992 Rugby League World Cup final]] victory over [[Great Britain Lions|Great Britain]] in front of the world record attendance for an international rugby league match of 73,631 at [[Wembley Stadium (1923)|Wembley Stadium]].<ref>[http://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/matches/world-cup-1989/final/great-britain-vs-australia.html 1992 World Cup final at Rugby League Project]</ref>

At the end of the [[1994 NSWRL season]], he went on the [[1994 Kangaroo tour]]. This was followed with selection for the [[1995 Rugby League World Cup|1995 World Cup]], with again only ARL players selected. After losing the opening game of the tournament against [[England national rugby league team|England]] at Wembley, Australia reached the final, again playing England, after a 30-20 Semi-final win over New Zealand that went into overtime after the scores were locked up at 20-all after 80 minutes. On 28 October 1995 at Wembley Stadium, Australia won their 4th straight World Cup with a 16–8 win, with Brasher contributing the winning try in front of 66,540 fans.<ref>[http://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/matches/world-cup-1995/final/australia-vs-england.html 1995 World Cup final at Rugby League Project]</ref>

1996 however was perhaps Brasher's finest year. Some considered him to be the best player in the world at this time. Brasher single-handedly carried a very weak Tigers side to within one win of a finals berth that year, and his Origin and Kangaroo performances continued to be exceptional.
 
After the [[Super League (Australia)|Super League]] had become defunct and the reunification of the game had occurred in 1998, Brasher's hesitation over his future with the Tigers resulted in the club terminating negotiations, and he was forced to find a new club. He knocked back an offer of $500,000 p.a., only to then change his mind but find that the offer had been withdrawn not long after the dead line.<ref>[https://anchor.fm/biggest-tiger/episodes/Stories-with-Tim-Brasher-eajk7t] SBFs Podcast: Stories With Tim Brasher</ref> Brasher was in talks with the Canberra Raiders, but after talks with the club stalled, it was announced that Brasher had signed for the [[South Sydney Rabbitohs]].

Brasher enjoyed a very successful career with the Tigers playing in 185 games, which included 182 starts and 3 replacement appearances, and scoring 538 points, which included 82 tries and 105 goals. Brasher was named on the bench in the official Balmain Tigers ''Team of the Century''.

==South Sydney==
{{BLP unreferenced section|date=April 2024}}
In total, he played two seasons for the Rabbitohs where he made 40 appearances and scored 14 tries, totaling 56 points. After the club was [[South Sydney Rabbitohs#The troubled 1990.27s and exclusion|excluded from the 2000 season]], Brasher was forced to find another club, and joined the [[North Queensland Cowboys]].

==North Queensland==
{{BLP unreferenced section|date=April 2024}}
Brasher moved to the [[North Queensland Cowboys]] in 2000, and was appointed captain in his first season with the club, in which he made 16 appearances, scoring four tries, and being voted ''Players Player of the Year''. However, after the 2000 season had ended he was injured during the off-season, which ruled him out of the entire 2001 season. The career-ending injury was widely reported at the time as a knee injury as a result of Brasher falling from a chair cleaning a fan. However, it has since been discovered that the injury was the result of an accident that occurred during a trail biking adventure with former Cowboy's halfback [[Nathan Fien]]. Much speculation still exists as to why the Cowboys chose to conceal the events of Brasher's injury. He decided to retire due to the injury.

Brasher did however make a very brief comeback (albeit to English Rugby Union) when he filled in for a depleted Bath side during the [[2003 Rugby World Cup]]. Due to the attention that the World Cup drew in Australia, little attention was paid to this aspect of Brasher's career.

==Representative career==
{{BLP unreferenced section|date=April 2024}}

===New South Wales===
In [[1992 State of Origin series|1992]], he was called up for the [[New South Wales Rugby League team|New South Wales]] [[Rugby League State of Origin|State of Origin]] squad. His impressive display in the second half of the third and deciding game of the series saw him pull off two try saving tackles on [[Mark Coyne (rugby league)|Mark Coyne]] and [[Mal Meninga]], as well as kicking two goals.

In the 1993–94 season, he was again called up to the New South Wales squad. After moving to South Sydney, his impressive form in a struggling Rabbitohs squad again earned him a call-up to the State of Origin side in 1998. After signing for the North Queensland Cowboys, Brasher was again selected for the New South Wales side in 2000. In all he represented New South Wales in 21 appearances, which included 20 starts and one replacement appearance. In his 21 appearances he scored three tries and nine goals, with a total of 30 points.

===Australia===
After his impressive State of Origin performance, as well as being the 1992 seasons leading try scorer for Balmain (while playing on the wing), Brasher was selected as the [[Australian Kangaroos|Australian]] fullback in their [[1989–1992 Rugby League World Cup#Final|1992 World Cup final]] victory over [[Great Britain Lions|Great Britain]] in front of the world record attendance for an international rugby league match of 73,631 at [[Wembley Stadium (1923)|Wembley Stadium]]. Brasher beat out [[Newcastle Knights]] fullback [[Brad Godden]] for the vacant Australian fullback spot on the back of impressive big game displays in both the final State of Origin game that year, as well as with Balmain as an 18 year old in the 1989 Grand Final.

Brasher, who had been moved to fullback at Balmain following [[Garry Jack]]'s departure from the club, again impressed at fullback for NSW 1993, but lost his place in the Australian side to Queensland fullback [[Dale Shearer]] (a long-time favourite of Australian coach [[Bob Fulton]]) for the three game test series against [[New Zealand national rugby league team|New Zealand]]. Shearer's place in the Australian side wasn't disputed though after impressive displays for Qld in the final two games of the Origin series.

The great form of [[Canberra Raiders|Canberra]] fullback [[Brett Mullins]] meant that Brasher, who again played fullback for NSW in the [[1994 State of Origin series|1994 Origin series]], could only make a place on the bench for his test debut against [[France national rugby league team|France]] at [[Parramatta Stadium]] in 1994, won 58-0 by the Kangaroos. At the end of the 1994 season he was selected as one of the fullbacks (along with Mullins) for the end of season [[1994 Kangaroo Tour|Kangaroo Tour]]. Brasher played 15 games on tour (six as a substitute), scoring six tries and kicking eleven goals. Brasher was a substitute in the final [[The Ashes (rugby league)|Ashes]] test against Great Britain at [[Elland Road]] in [[Leeds]], as well as the test 74–0 win against France in [[Béziers]], the final game of the tour.

In 1995, Brasher finally made the Australian fullback spot his own and he was selected there for all three tests against New Zealand in the [[1995 Trans-Tasman Test series|Trans-Tasman Test series]] (only [[Australian Rugby League|ARL]] loyal players were selected, which saw only three players, Brasher, [[Brad Fittler]] and [[Rod Wishart]] retain their places from the 1994 Kangaroo Tour).

This was followed with selection for the [[1995 Rugby League World Cup|1995 World Cup]], with again only ARL players selected. With what many would label a 'second-string' team without the inclusion of the [[Super League (Australia)|Super League]] players such as [[Laurie Daley]], [[Bradley Clyde]], [[Allan Langer]] and [[Glenn Lazarus]]. After losing the opening game of the tournament against [[England national rugby league team|England]] at Wembley, Australia reached the final, again playing England, after a tense 30-20 Semi-final win over New Zealand that went into overtime after the scores were locked up at 20-all after 80 minutes. On 28 October 1995 at Wembley Stadium, Australia won their 4th straight World Cup with a 16–8 win, with Brasher contributing the winning try in front of 66,540 fans.

Between 1996 and 1998, Brasher was selected a further five times, against [[Fiji Bati|Fiji]], [[Papua New Guinea Kumuls|Papua New Guinea]] (both 1996), Rest of the World (1997) and two Tests against New Zealand (1998). In total he represented his country on 16 occasions, scoring nine tries, totalling 36 points.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.stateoforigin.com.au/SOOgame/PlayerDetails.aspx?Pid=91 State of Origin Official website Rugby League Player Stats]

{{Australia 1992 Rugby League World Cup final squad}}
{{1994 Kangaroo Tour squad}}
{{Australia 1995 Rugby League World Cup Squad}}
{{National Rugby League top try scorers}}
{{Balmain Tigers Team of the Century}}
{{North Queensland Cowboys captains}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brasher, Tim}}
[[Category:1971 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Australia national rugby league team players]]
[[Category:Australian rugby league players]]
[[Category:Balmain Tigers players]]
[[Category:20th-century Australian sportsmen]]
[[Category:New South Wales City Origin rugby league team players]]
[[Category:New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players]]
[[Category:North Queensland Cowboys players]]
[[Category:Rugby league fullbacks]]
[[Category:Rugby league players from Sydney]]
[[Category:South Sydney Rabbitohs players]]
[[Category:South Sydney Rabbitohs captains]]