Paul Green (rugby league)

Paul Gregory Green (born 12 September 1972) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who currently coaches Queensland in the State of Origin series, and is a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s.
He played for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, North Queensland Cowboys, Sydney Roosters, Parramatta Eels and the Brisbane Broncos, winning the Rothmans Medal in 1995. He was Queensland State of Origin and Australian international representative halfback. As a coach Green guided the Cowboys to their first premiership in 2015.
Background.
Green was born in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Playing career.
Early years.
A Wynnum Manly Seagulls junior, Green captained the Queensland Colts before winning Brisbane Rugby League's Rothmans Medal in 1993 while playing with for the Easts Tigers.
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks.
In 1994, Green followed his Easts' coach John Lang to Sydney's Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, turning heads with the maturity and skill of his play at . In his rookie season in the NSWRL, Green played 24 games. In 1995, he backed up his solid debut season by winning the ARL's prestigious Rothmans Medal award as best and fairest player. Following Cronulla's defection to Super League, Green was selected for Australia as a reserve in the 1997 ANZAC Test before representing Queensland as a replacement in three Super League Tri-series matches. At the end of the season, he was chosen as halfback in the return Test against New Zealand in September but an injury kept him out of Australia's tour of Great Britain. After missing just one match in four seasons, a serious shoulder injury restricted Green to just four matches in 1998.
North Queensland Cowboys.
In 1999, Green joined the North Queensland Cowboys and was the starting halfback for most of the year. That season he became the club's first State of Origin representative, when he was selected as Queensland's halfback for Game 2 of the series. In 2000, Green fell out of favour with coach Tim Sheens who preferred the halves' partnership of Scott Prince and Noel Goldthorpe. Despite this, Green once again represented Queensland. The Cowboys then sacked Green midway through the season for allegedly negotiating with other clubs while still under contract. Green would subsequently win an out-of-court settlement against the club.
Sydney Roosters.
In 2001, Green returned to Sydney joining the Sydney Roosters. That season he played 19 games, starting 17 of them at halfback and earned another Origin recall, playing in all three games in Queensland's series win. In 2002, Green injured his knee in the Roosters' opening game against the South Sydney Rabbitohs, ruling him out for the whole of the Roosters' premiership-winning season.
Parramatta Eels.
In 2003, Green joined the Parramatta Eels. After starting the first 7 games at halfback, Green suffered a fractured cheekbone which ended his season.
Brisbane Broncos.
Green returned to Queensland in 2004, signing with the Brisbane Broncos. After spending most of the season in the Queensland Cup, he made five appearances for the Broncos towards the end of the season before retiring.
Coaching career.
After his retirement in 2004, Green worked as a specialist coach with the Brisbane Broncos - mainly working with the club's halves & hookers - from 2005, a position he held until 2008. From 2009 Green was promoted to an assistant coach of the Brisbane Broncos before moving onto feeder club Wynum Manly in 2010, working as an assistant. Green coached the Wynnum Manly Seagulls in the 2011 and 2012 Queensland Cups. He coached the 2012 Queensland Residents side. He won back-to-back premierships with Wynum Manly during this time.
In 2012, Green was appointed head coach of representative team, the Queensland Residents, consisting of the best players and coach from the Queensland Cup competition. His team beat the New South Wales Residents a team consisting of the best players and coach from the New South Wales cup competition.
In 2013 he was appointed as the head coach of the Sydney Roosters Toyota Cup team and an assistant coach to the National Rugby League side. The Sydney Roosters won the 2013 NRL premiership while Green's NYC side made the preliminary finals in the Under 20s competition.
During the build up to NRL Grand Final week in 2015, Bennett explained he held Green's coaching career back. With the inaugural season of the under 20s competition set to get underway, Bennett said the North Queensland mentor was in line for the role as coach. Ultimately it went to ex Penrith Panthers coach Anthony Griffin.
North Queensland Cowboys.
In 2014, Green commenced his NRL head coaching career with the North Queensland Cowboys, claiming the club's first title at the inaugural NRL Auckland Nines, defeating the Brisbane Broncos in the Grand Final. Green took the Cowboys to a whisker of the top 4 finish in 2014, finishing the season with 15 wins, North Queensland finished the regular season in fifth place. During the season Green made some decisions which critics say defined the Cowboys quality season, the decisions included shifting Halfback Michael Morgan to the Fullback position, switching captain Johnathan Thurston from five-eighth back to the Halfback position & giving young gun Jason Taumalolo a spot in the starting line-up.
The 2014 finals series saw the Cowboys eliminated in controversial fashion once again, after defeating the eighth placed Brisbane Broncos 32-20 in week one of the finals series, North Queensland travelled to Sydney to take on the Roosters in which they lost 31-30. A last minute try to Johnathan Thurston which would have led to a victory was disallowed by the video referees. After trailing 30-0 in the early stages of the first half, Green said in the post match press conference that the team should not lick their wounds over the controversial call which ended their season as their start was not good enough to deserve the win. Green finished the season coaching the Cowboys to 16 wins from 26 starts.
Green broke records with the Cowboys in 2015. After the club started their season with three loses in a row, Green then went on to take the club to 11 wins in a row. The Cowboys finished the year with their most wins ever recorded within a regular season with 17 which gave the club their first top 4 finish since 2007.
North Queensland lost 16-12 against the Brisbane Broncos in week 1 of the finals series before putting in the most clinical display from a single club all year in the next weeks semi-final against Cronulla in which North Queensland won 39-0, booking their first preliminary final since 2007. The Cowboys beat the Melbourne Storm 32-12 in the Preliminary Final booking their place in the 2015 NRL Grand Final against the Brisbane Broncos, their first since Grand Final in a decade, since 2005 where they finished runners-up. The Cowboys claimed their maiden premiership with a 17-16 win over the Brisbane Broncos. This made Green the first coach in history to defeat the Brisbane Broncos in a Grand Final, a team which had a perfect record going into the game with 6 wins from 6 attempts.
In December 2015, Green was offered the vacant head coaching role of the Queensland State of Origin side. Green ultimately turned down the job to concentrate solely on the Cowboys.
On 22 February 2016 Green coached the Cowboys to their first World Club Championship victory defeating the Leeds Rhinos 34-4. In the regular NRL season, Green would coach the Cowboys to win their first five home games in a row, a club record. North Queensland finished the regular season in fourth place on the ladder. In week one of the finals the club lost to the Melbourne Storm 16-10 before defeating the Brisbane Broncos 26-20 in a 90-minute thriller in the Semi-Finals in a match rated the best of the season. Unfortunately Green and the Cowboys fell short in the preliminary finals losing to the Cronulla Sharks 32-20, falling just one game short of a second consecutive Grand Final. Green coached the Cowboys to their best ever defensive season in the NRL in 2016, conceding the fewest points in club history with just 355 in the regular season, an average of 14.79 points per game.
After opening the 2017 season with two consecutive golden point victories against the Raiders and Broncos, Green was courted by the NZRL to become assistant coach of the New Zealand Rugby League Test Team for the 2017 World Cup. The Cowboys limped into the 2017 Finals series in 8th place after an injury crisis saw co-captains Matthew Scott and Johnathan Thurston ruled out early in the season. The Cowboys were able to upset reigning premiers the Cronulla Sharks in the Qualifying Finals, the Parramatta Eels in the Semi-Finals and the Sydney Roosters in the Preliminary Finals to secure a spot in the Grand Final against the Melbourne Storm. In Green's second grand final, his injury depleted side would fall short 34-6. Green was praised heavily for getting North Queensland into their second grand final in the space of three seasons - at one stage he had 17 players out at one time with injury (Round's 23-24).
2018 wasn't Green's best season in charge of North Queensland. After winning the pre-season Johnathan Thurston and Cameron Smith testimonial against the Melbourne Storm, many predicted a premiership season for the club but by the end of the season and a host of injuries, the side finished 13th on the ladder with just 8 wins and 16 losses. The club's biggest win of the year was over the Brisbane Broncos in Round 22 where they took home the Queensland Derby shield.
Following a strong pre-season in 2019 with wins over Melbourne and the Gold Coast. Paul Green became the winningest coach in club history when his side defeated the Warriors in Round 6. The club won three games in a row for the first time since 2017 following their Round 12 victory over the Gold Coast Titans in which the side prevailed 6-4.
In February 2020, Green led the Cowboys' to their second NRL Nines championship, after they defeated the St George Illawarra Dragons in the final. 
On 20 July 2020, Green stepped down from his role as Cowboys' head coach just 10 games into the season.