Mark Geyer
Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Full name | Mark Bradley Geyer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Granville, New South Wales, Australia | 7 December 1967||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 195 cm (6 ft 5 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 110 kg (17 st 5 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playing information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Position | Second-row, Prop | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Mark Bradley Geyer
Geyer was part of the
Playing career
In 1987, Geyer established a regular first-grade place with the
Geyer was first selected in the second row for New South Wales in game 3 of the 1989 State of Origin series, at Lang Park in Brisbane.
His
Geyer's form for the Panthers in
In August 1991, he was thought to be out for the rest of the season after injuring his ankle ligaments in a training session, only to return for the major semifinal.[5] However, despite his problems during the season, Geyer helped the minor premiers into the Grand Final where they gained revenge on Canberra with a 19–12 win that saw the Panthers win their first premiership since entering the competition in 1967. Geyer had a hand in all three of the Panthers tries on the day and was judged to be their best player, though his sin-binning for dissent by referee Bill Harrigan during the second half was thought to have cost him the Clive Churchill Medal as man of the match.[6]
He spent the 1993 season with the Balmain Tigers. After leaving Penrith, the coach of Balmain at the time Alan Jones handed Geyer a lifeline. Speaking to the media in 2018 Geyer spoke of his time at Balmain saying "It was shit to be honest, I didn't like it one bit,I didn't like travelling on the M4, which at the time only had two lanes all the way to Leichhardt Oval in peak hour then driving home in peak hour, take all that aside from it, the people involved with the Tigers at the time I loved. Alan Jones was the only coach in Sydney who would throw me a lifeline after I left Penrith in controversial circumstances".
In 1994, Geyer spent a season playing with the Umina Beach Bunnies who play in the Central Coast Division Rugby League competition after leaving Balmain.[7]
Geyer played for the
In 2000, Mark Geyer was awarded the Australian Sports Medal for his contribution to Australia's international standing in rugby league. He retired at the end of the 2000 season.
Post-playing career
Since his retirement, Geyer has written extensively about rugby league for various newspapers and sporting magazines.
In May 2010, he spoke out about his mid career drug and alcohol battle that lasted from 1992 to 1995[9] and how it almost ended his career. He said a large part of the drug usage was to simply trying to numb the pain of losing his best mate, former Penrith player Ben Alexander, who was killed in a car accident in 1992.
Geyer was a regular panellist on rugby league talk show
In 2012, it was announced that Geyer joined Fox Sports (Australia) as part of their Rugby League coverage. He is a panellist on NRL on FOX
Geyer is actively involved in a number of charities, such as the Fight For Life charity boxing event,[10] he is the ambassador for the Save Our Sons charity.
In response to the 2010–2011 Queensland floods, Geyer organised the 2011 Legends of Origin charity match which raised $455,345 for the recovery effort.
On Australia Day 2013, Mark was announced in the Honours List. He received an Order of Australia medal for "service to the sport of Rugby League football, and to the community through a range of charitable organisations."
In November 2017, Geyer announced that he would be leaving The
In August 2019, Geyer claimed on Triple M's the Rush Hour that within 10 years at least one Sydney team in the
Geyer co-hosted Sydney Triple M's weekday breakfast show MG, Jess and Pagey until 25 November 2022, and will start co-hosting the station's replacement breakfast show Mick and MG in the Morning with Mick Molloy from 2023.[12]
Personal life
Geyer's younger brother Matt Geyer also played rugby league, initially with Mark at the Western Reds in 1997, before playing with the Melbourne Storm between 1998 and 2008.
Geyer is married to Megs the sister of former fellow Penrith players Greg Alexander and the late Ben Alexander.[13]
He is father to Penrith Panthers second rower
References
- ^ NRL Stats[permanent dead link]
- ^ RLP
- ^ "Mr Mark Bradley Geyer". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Retrieved 24 September 2022 – via Australian Government.
- ^ 1991 Trans-Tasman Test series at Rugby League Project
- ^ "Penrith to use "shock weapon"". The Canberra Times. 27 August 1991. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
- ^ 1991 NSWRL Grand Final at Rugby League Project
- ^ "Geyer goes off on Pearce, demands lengthy ban". Sporting News. 14 August 2021.
- ^ ""It Was Shit. I Didn't Like It One Bit" – MG on a Tough Time in His Career".
- ^ , "My beer and speed binge shame", The Daily Telegraph
- ^ BSA Decision 2003-165,166
- ^ "Legend's plan to relocate a Sydney club within five years". Fox Sports. 13 August 2019.
- ^ "Mick Molloy and Mark 'MG' Geyer to host Triple M breakfast Sydney after Jess Eva axed". News.com.au. 25 November 2022. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
- ^ "Tragedy triggers painful memories for Geyer". The Sydney Morning Herald. 11 January 2009. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
Sources
- Whiticker, Alan and Hudson, Glen; The Encyclopaedia of Rugby League Players (3rd edition); published 1998 by Gary Allen Pty. Ltd.; 9 Cooper Street, Smithfield, New South Wales, 2164.