Graeme O'Grady is an Australian former professional rugby league

Rugby league

Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...

 player in the New South Wales Rugby League

New South Wales Rugby League

The New South Wales Rugby League is the governing body of rugby league in New South Wales and is a member of the Australian Rugby League. It was formed in Sydney on 8 August 1907 and was known as the New South Wales Rugby Football League until 1984 when forward thinking marketing managers decided...

 (NSWRL) competition. He played for the Western Suburbs Magpies

Western Suburbs Magpies

The Western Suburbs Magpies are an Australian rugby league football club based in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Formed in 1908, Wests, as they are commonly referred to, were one of the nine foundation clubs of the first New South Wales Rugby League competition in Australia...

, Newtown Jets

Newtown Jets

The Newtown Jets are an Australian rugby league football club based in Newtown, a suburb of Sydney's inner west. They currently compete in the NSWRL Premier League competition, having left the top grade after the 1983 NSWRFL season...

 and St. George Dragons

St. George Dragons

The St George Dragons was an Australian Rugby league football club in St George, Sydney, New South Wales that played in Australia's top-level Rugby league competition from New South Wales Rugby Football League in 1921 until 1998; in 1999 they formed a joint venture with the Illawarra Steelers,...

 and one state representative appearance. O'Grady primarily played at lock.

Club career

After six games with Western Suburbs in 1974, O'Grady spent the following year at Wests Illawarra

Illawarra Rugby League

The Illawarra Rugby League is a rugby league competition in Wollongong, NSW. It is one of the oldest rugby league competitions in Australia, founded in 1911 with five clubs ....

 before being recalled to first grade in 1976.

In 1977, O'Grady was selected as the Amco Cup's

Amco Cup

The Amco Cup was a mid-week rugby league competition held in Australia between 1974 and 1989. The format was usually a straight knock-out, but various group formats were used between 1979 and 1982...

 Player of the Series after Wests defeated Easts

Sydney Roosters

The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League and is one of the oldest and most successful clubs in Australian rugby league history, having won twelve New South Wales Rugby League...

 in the Grand Final of the mid-week competition.

In 1980 he followed his former club-skipper Tommy Raudonikis

Tommy Raudonikis

Tommy Raudonikis OAM is an Australian former rugby league footballer and coach. He played over twenty-nine Tests and World Cup games as Australia representative halfback and captained his country in two Tests of the 1973 Kangarooo tour.-Early life and club playing career:Raudonikis is the son of a...

 to Newtown where he spent the next three seasons. He was a member of the Newtown side that went down by 11-20 to Parramatta

Parramatta Eels

The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, with their First Grade side playing their first season in the New South Wales Rugby Football League...

 in the 1981 Grand Final. He finished his first-grade career with three seasons with St George from 1983 and was a member of their side that lost the NSWRL season 1985 Grand Final

New South Wales Rugby League season 1985

The 1985 New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the seventy-eighth season of professional rugby league football in Australia. Thirteen teams competed for the J J Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup during the season, which culminated in a grand final between the Canterbury-Bankstown and St....

 by a single point to the Canterbury Bulldogs

Canterbury Bulldogs

The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the National Rugby League premiership, as well as New South Wales Rugby League junior competitions...

.

O'Grady retired to the Gold Coast

Gold Coast, Queensland

Gold Coast is a coastal city of Australia located in South East Queensland, 94km south of the state capital Brisbane. With a population approximately 540,000 in 2010, it is the second most populous city in the state, the sixth most populous city in the country, and also the most populous...

 in 1985 and captain-coached a Group 18

Group 18 Rugby League

Group 18 is the name of a rugby league competition on the far north coast of New South Wales, Australia. Currently, the group has no senior competition. Prior to 2005, there was a joint Gold Coast-Group 18 competition which fielded teams from both the Queensland and New South Wales sides of the...

 team, Cudgen Hornets, to premierships in 1986 and 1987.

O'Grady was named at five-eighth in the Western Suburbs Team of the Seventies.

Representative

O'Grady was selected as a reserve to represent New South Wales in the sole Origin game of 1981

1981 Rugby League State of Origin game

The second ever Australian rugby league State of Origin fixture of 1981 featured a stunning comeback by the Maroons, an all-in-brawl, a 90-metre try by Eric Grothe, Sr...

, but not get any time on the paddock.