Jerry Brien

Jerry Brien was an Australian rugby league footballer and coach. He played for Western Suburbs, St. George and for the New South Wales Rugby League team. He also coached the Canterbury-Bankstown club and Western Suburbs.

Jerry Brien

Jerry Brien. 1929 St.George First Grade
Personal information
Full name	Jerome Albert Brien
Born	8 December 1904 Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia
Died	11 September 1981(1981-09-11) (aged 76)
Playing information
Position	Halfback
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1923–28 Western Suburbs 39 8 1 0 26 1929 St. George 4 0 0 0 0 Total 43 8 1 0 26 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1925–28 New South Wales 3 0 0 0 0 1928 NSW City 1 0 0 0 0 1927 Metropolis 2 0 1 0 2
Coaching information
Club Years Team Gms W D L W% 1937 Western Suburbs 8 3 0 5 38 1939 Canterbury-Bankstown 16 11 0 5 69 1942 Canterbury-Bankstown 16 11 0 5 69 Total 40 25 0 15 63 Representative Years Team Gms W D L W% 1947 New South Wales 0 0 0 0
Source: [1][2]

Playing career

In 1925, Brien was chosen to play for New South Wales although he was only playing for the Western Suburbs reserve grade team,^[3] and had played just a handful of first grade games since his debut in 1923.

Brien represented NSW again in 1928, and was selected to represent Australia in the second test against England, but an injury suffered playing for Wests stopped him from making his international debut.^[4]

After six seasons with Western Suburbs, Brien joined St. George for 4 games in 1929.

Coaching career

After his retirement as a player, Brien began coaching, including stints with South Grafton in 1932^[5] & Cowra in 1933.^[6] In 1937, Brien returned to coach Western Suburbs for the eight games of the shortened season where they finished second last. In 1939, he took over as coach at Canterbury-Bankstown for a season, and returned to be at the helm when they won their second premiership in 1942.^[7]

By 1947, Brien was NSW coach and one of their selectors.^[8] Later, he became an Australian selector,^[4] but was dropped as a NSW selector in March 1951, making him ineligible to fill the national role.^[9]