Adam Dykes
| Personal information | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | 5 February 1977 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | |||||
| Playing information | ||||||
| Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) | |||||
| Weight | 13 st 7 lbs (86 kg) | |||||
| Position | Five-eighth, Halfback | |||||
| Club | ||||||
| Years | Team | Pld | T | G | FG | P |
| 1995–01 | Cronulla Sharks | 129 | 36 | 1 | 3 | 149 |
| 2002–04 | Parramatta Eels | 38 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 56 |
| 2005–07 | Cronulla Sharks | 54 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 44 |
| 2008 | Hull F.C. | 16 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 18 |
| Total | 237 | 62 | 6 | 7 | 267 | |
| Representative | ||||||
| Years | Team | Pld | T | G | FG | P |
| 2001 | City NSW | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Source: [1][2] | ||||||
Adam Dykes (born 5 February 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer of the 1990s and 2000s. He played in the National Rugby League for Sydney clubs, the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks and Parramatta Eels, and in Super League for English club Hull. Dykes' usual position was five-eighth, though he has also been shuffled around the backs during his career, playing minor parts of it at both Lock and in the half back role.
Playing career
Early career
Dykes began playing rugby league at an early age after being heavily involved and influenced into the game by his father John Dykes who was a professional player himself for one season in 1976 for the Cronulla Sharks, along with also being their reserve grade coach between 1993 and 1994.
With Adam Dykes possessing copious amounts of talent at a young age rising into grade as a 16-year-old. Dykes was selected in the Australian under 15's and 17's squads and is seen as one of the Sharks most talented juniors ever to rise through the ranks. Dykes was the five eighth in the famous 1994 Presidents Cup winning team that former ARL head Ken Arthurson labelled the best U/21 team he'd ever seen.
1995
Dykes made his first grade debut for the Cronulla Sharks as an 18-year-old in the 1995 season (11 March, round 1) against the Newcastle Knights. With several impressive performances for the club he quickly cemented his position in John Lang's outfit as a key impact player off the interchange bench.
1996-01
After spending 1996 as a utility player off the bench, Dykes was given the chance to prove himself as a regular starter in the halves. In 1997, Dykes played a prominent role in the Sharks season, ending in the Sharks Super League grand final loss to the Brisbane Broncos. In 2001 he rose to represent City in the annual City vs Country Origin match, was selected for the Australian train on squad, crowned the Daily M five eighth of the year and named in the NRL team of the year.
2002-04
Dykes was controversially signed by Parramatta Eels head coach Brian Smith for the start of the 2002 NRL season on a four-year deal, angering many Sharks fans as they had seen him as one of the central members of the team along with the fact that he was a born and bred Cronulla junior. With this in mind many fans began speculating that Dykes had clashed with new Cronulla coach Chris Anderson and that this had led to his departure, though none of these claims were ever proven to be factual.
After three injury plagued years at Parramatta, Dykes approached the club asking them for a termination on his final year with the club, citing wanting to return home to the Sharks.
2005-07
Dykes returned to the Cronulla Sharks in 2005 under the influence of coach Stuart Raper.
2008
Dykes had a disappointing year in England featuring only 17 times for Hull missing the Challenge Cup final in a season wrecked by injury.Dykes was instrumental for the black and whites when he was on the pitch winning every man of the match award in the Challenge Cup run to the final.
References
- ↑ Rugby League Project
- ↑ Yesterday's Hero Archived 10 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine.