George Gatis

George Gatis (born 25 March 1978) is a former rugby league footballer who played as a hooker in the 2000s in the NRL and the Super League.[1]

George Gatis
Personal information
Born (1978-03-25) 25 March 1978
Townsville, Queensland, Australia
Playing information
Height174 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Weight89 kg (14 st 0 lb)
PositionHooker
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2001–03 North Qld Cowboys 24 4 0 0 16
2006–07 New Zealand Warriors 39 6 0 0 234
2008 Huddersfield Giants 10 1 0 0 4
2008 North Qld Cowboys 1 0 0 0 0
Total 74 11 0 0 254
Source: [1]

He played for the New Zealand Warriors, and the North Queensland Cowboys in two separate spells in the National Rugby League, and the Huddersfield Giants in the European Super League.

After a few overcoming injuries, Gatis quit football and took over management of his family business 'Simply Tops Seafood Bar'. This was declared the best Seafood bar in North Queensland according to the Australian Seafood Committee's (ASF) 'Best Seafood in Queensland' contest in 2016

Background

He was born in Townsville, Queensland, Australia and is of Greek heritage.

Playing career

In his junior years playing Rugby League Gatis would play for Souths Townsville and Centrals in the TDJRL.

Gatis originally played for the Wests Panthers and the Easts Tigers in the Queensland Cup.[2]

North Queensland

He made his first grade début for the North Queensland Cowboys in 2001. Gatis played 24 games for the Cowboys between 2001 and 2003.

A broken arm in 2003 followed by a knee reconstruction kept Gatis out of first-grade for several years.

New Zealand Warriors

When the New Zealand Warriors visited Townsville in 2005, assistant coach Kevin Campion offered Gatis a chance to come and spend the pre-season with the Warriors.[3]

Gatis accepted the offer and, in 2006, he was signed by the New Zealand Warriors.[4] He played in thirty nine games for the club over two seasons.

Huddersfield

In August 2007 Gatis signed for the Huddersfield Giants for the 2008 and 2009 seasons. However, just three months into a two-year contract with Huddersfield, George quit the club due to personal reasons.[5]

Retirement

Gatis returned to Australia and helped his parents fish and chip shop. During the 2008 season he signed with the North Queensland Cowboys, and played one NRL match for the club, starting at hooker. For the majority of the season he played with the Northern Pride in the Queensland Cup.[6]

Gatis retired at the end of the season.[7]

International career

Gatis, of Greek heritage, played for the Greece national team several times in non-test fixtures. He received Greek citizenship in November 2007.[8]

References
  1. "Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org". Rugby League Project. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  2. Round 22: 15, 16 August Archived 17 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine queensland.rleague.com
  3. "George Gatis". Television New Zealand. 24 January 2006. Retrieved 1 October 2011.
  4. "Warriors' Gatis in first National Rugby League (NRL) match since 2003". AAP Sports News (Australia). 21 March 2006. Archived from the original (fee required) on 16 May 2011. Retrieved 10 December 2007.
  5. "Hooker Gatis quits Huddersfield". BBC. 22 April 2008. Retrieved 22 April 2008.
  6. Josh Alston Gatis back in town Townsville Bulletin, 24 May 2008
  7. "By George, Gatis calls it quits". Sunday News. 3 August 2008. Retrieved 1 October 2011.
  8. "'m happy with all my Giants". AAP Sports News (Australia). 5 December 2007. Archived from the original (fee required) on 16 May 2011. Retrieved 10 December 2007.
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