Jamie Soward

Jamie Soward

Soward playing for the Dragons in 2008
Personal information
Born	(1984-11-13) 13 November 1984 Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia
Height	176 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Weight	93 kg (14 st 9 lb)
Playing information
Position	Five-eighth, Halfback
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 2005–06 Sydney Roosters 22 6 1 0 26 2007–13 St George Illawarra 140 39 398 25 977 2013 London Broncos 9 5 24 1 69 2014– Penrith Panthers 25 7 63 1 155 Total 196 57 486 27 1227 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 2008 Aboriginal dreamteam 1 1 5 0 14 2009–11 Country Origin 2 0 1 0 2 2010–11 Indigenous All stars 2 1 0 0 4 2011 New South Wales 3 0 9 0 18
Source: RLP

Jamie Soward (born 13 November 1984) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer for the Penrith Panthers of the National Rugby League. A New South Wales State of Origin and Indigenous All-Stars representative five-eighth, he previously played for the Sydney Roosters and St. George Illawarra Dragons (with whom he won the 2010 NRL Premiership) before a season in Super League with the London Broncos.

Background

Born in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Soward played his junior rugby league for the Wagga Wagga Kangaroos before Soward began his career in the Canberra Raiders system, before moving to play with the Sydney Roosters Jersey Flagg side where he helped the club win the 2004 premiership with two last-ditch field goals.

Sydney Roosters 2005-2007

2005

In Round 9 of the 2005 NRL season, Soward made his NRL debut for the Sydney Roosters at halfback against the Newcastle Knights in the Roosters 32-2 win at SFS. Six days before his debut, Soward’s father Peter Soward unfortunately died from a heart attack. In Round 17 against the Newcastle Knights at Hunter Stadium, Soward scored his first NRL career try in the Roosters 28-14 win. Soward played in 7 matches and scored 2 tries (8p) in his debut year in the NRL for the Roosters in the 2005 NRL season.

2006

Soward finished the 2006 NRL season with him playing in 14 matches, scoring 4 tries and kicking 1 goal (18p) for the Roosters.

2007

Half-way into the 2007 season, he was given an immediate release from the Sydney Roosters to join the St George Illawarra Dragons after being in and out of first grade and premier league in his years with the Roosters. Soward played 1 match for the Roosters in the 2007 NRL season in Round 11 against the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks at Remondis Stadium in the Roosters 13-12 win.

St George Illawarra Dragons 2007-2013

He set a new record for most points by an individual in a game for the Dragons with 22, achieved when they defeated the Canberra Raiders in 2007. In October 2008 he was selected in the Indigenous Dreamtime team to play New Zealand Māori, as the curtain raiser to the Australia v New Zealand 2008 Rugby League World Cup match. In round 7 of 2009, during the annual Anzac day match, the Dragons defeated Sowards previous club 29-0 in which he scored a near club record 21 points. Jamie became the first player to pass 200 points for the season 2009 when he scored 14 points on 8 August 2009, against the Penrith Panthers. While originally not selected, he was selected for Country in the City vs Country match on 8 May 2009, due to injury to Ben Hornby. Soward finished the 2009 season with the second most Dally M votes and was named the Dally M Five-Eighth of the Year.

During the 2010 NRL season Soward surpassed Mark Riddell as St. George Illawarra's all-time top point scorer. In Preliminary Final against the Wests Tigers that year, Soward slotted a field goal from 35 metres out to win the game for the Saints 13-12 and send the Dragons to their first Grand Final since 1999. On 3 October 2010 Soward was a part of the St. George Illawarra Dragon's first Premiership as a joint venture, defeating his old club the Sydney Roosters 32-8 in the Grand Final. Soward set up the first try of the game for Mark Gasnier with a precision kick into the in-goal and his goal kicking also proved a major factor in the result as he slotted 6 from 7 including two memorable shots from the touchline into driving rain. On 13 January 2011, Soward was named in the "Blues in waiting" squad. A three day camp at Homebush from 21–23 January that will be coordinated by coach Ricky Stuart for players who he believes have potential to feature in future New South Wales Origin teams.

On 15 May 2011, Soward was selected to represent the New South Wales Blues as a Five-Eighth against the Queensland Maroons in Game One of the 2011 State of Origin series at Suncorp Stadium. Although the Blues lost narrowly, Soward played an exceptional game kicking two goals. In Game Two he had an exceptional kicking game, and also set up the match sealing try to force a deciding Game Three, which the Blues lost.

The following February Soward travelled to England to play the 2011 World Club Challenge against 2010's Super League XV champions Wigan Warriors, helping his side to victory with two goals and a field goal. They won the match 21-15.

In 2012 and 2013 he started not playing as well. The Dragons started losing matches and he was blamed partially for it. Eventually in Round 13 he got dropped to NSW Cup.

London Broncos 2013

2 weeks later he signed with the London Broncos in Europe's Super League for the rest of the 2013 season. At London he scored 67 points in only 9 games, as well as helping the team to the Challenge Cup semi-finals, where they lost 0-70 to Wigan, by scoring a try, a goal and a drop-goal in their 29-10 quarter-final win over Sheffield.

Penrith Panthers 2014-

In 2013, Jamie Soward signed a 4 year deal with the Penrith Panthers and has been playing for them since the beginning of 2014

External links

• NRL player profile
• St George Illawarra Dragons profile