Steve Folkes facts for kids
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Personal information
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| Full name | Steven John Folkes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 30 January 1959 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
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| Died | 27 February 2018 (aged 59) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
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Playing information
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| Height | 178 cm (5 ft 10 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 85 kg (13 st 5 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Second-row | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Coaching information
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Steven John Folkes (born January 30, 1959 – died February 27, 2018) was an Australian professional rugby league player and coach. He was well-known for his time with the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the National Rugby League. Steve also played for and represented both New South Wales and Australia.
Playing Rugby League
Steve Folkes started his rugby league journey at the Bankstown Sports Junior Rugby League Club. He was also the captain of Punchbowl Boys' High School.
He played a huge number of games for the Bulldogs between 1978 and 1991. He played 245 top-level games and 308 games overall for the club. Steve also played 24 games for Hull FC in England.
Folkes represented his home state, New South Wales, nine times in the famous State of Origin series. In 1986, he went on the "Kangaroo tour" to Great Britain and France, playing for Australia. He played five international matches for Australia between 1986 and 1988.
As a player, Steve Folkes reached the Grand Final six times with the Bulldogs. He won the Grand Final four times, which is a great achievement!
Coaching Rugby League
After his playing career, Steve Folkes became a coach. He coached the reserve grade team for Canterbury between 1996 and 1997. Then, he became the main coach for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in 1998.
In his first year as head coach, the Bulldogs made it to the 1998 NRL grand final. However, they lost to the Brisbane Broncos that year.
In 2002, the Canterbury-Bankstown team was doing very well and looked like they might win the 2002 NRL premiership. But they were disqualified and lost points because of a problem with their player payments.
Two seasons later, in 2004, Steve Folkes led his team to victory! They won the Grand Final by beating the Sydney Roosters 16-13. This win earned him the Dally M Medal for Coach of the Year in 2004.
The Bulldogs had a special tradition: every coach since 1978 had won a premiership. Steve Folkes continued this amazing streak. He was the club's longest-serving coach, staying until the end of the 2008 season.
After leaving the Bulldogs, Folkes worked as a strength and conditioning coach for the West Indies cricket team. In 2009, he returned to rugby league. He became a strength and conditioning coach for the Wests Tigers and later an assistant coach in 2011.
In 2012, he joined the St George Illawarra Dragons as an assistant coach. In 2014, Steve Folkes was appointed head coach for the Australia women's national rugby league team.
Personal Life
Steve Folkes was of English background. He was married to Karen Moore, whose father, Peter Moore, was a very important person for the Bulldogs club. Sadly, Karen passed away in 2013 from cancer.
Death
Steve Folkes passed away at his home on February 27, 2018, at the age of 59. It was reported that he died from a heart attack.
