Ben Barba

Ben Barba

Personal information
Full name	Benjamin Barba
Born	(1989-06-13) 13 June 1989 Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
Height	177 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	85 kg (13 st 5 lb)
Playing information
Position	Fullback, Five-eighth, Halfback
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 2007– Canterbury Bulldogs 80 62 0 0 248 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 2011– Indigenous All Stars 3 4 0 0 16
Source: NRL Stats As of September 2011

Ben Barba (born 13 June 1989), born in Darwin, Northern Territory, is an Australian Aboriginal professional rugby league footballer who plays fullback in the National Rugby League (NRL) for Sydney team, Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs.

In September, 2008, Barba was named in the Toyota Cup Team of the Year. The previous season, playing for the Bulldogs in the Jersey Flegg competition, Barba scored 130 points in 11 games. In 2009, Barba was an integral member of the Bankstown City Bulls team that won the New South Wales Cup.

Barba made his NRL debut for the Bulldogs on 28 July 2008, against the St. George Illawarra Dragons. At the time he was called up to first-grade, Barba was working at a car wash. It was announced on July 20, 2011 that Barba had signed a contract extension at the Bulldogs until the end of the 2015 season.

Barba had a successful 2011 season and scored 23 tries from 24 games. Barba's form has been so impressive it earned him a selection into the 25 man Queensland state of origin squad, however Barba did not make his origin debut.

He is of Aborigine and Torres Strait Islander descent

Early career

At a young age Ben and his family moved from Darwin in the Northern Territory to Mackay in Queensland. During his time in Queensland he played all of his junior Rugby League for the Northern Suburbs Rugby League Football Club.

2007-2008

He signed with the Bulldogs in 2007. Barba joined the Bulldogs in the middle of the 2007 season. At his first season at Belmore he didn't play First Grade, he played the remainder of the 2007 season in the Under 21's where he had a good first season scoring a lot of tries. In his second season at the Bulldogs in 2008 he played most of the season in the Toyota Cup Under 20's competition where he was playing magic Rugby League. Barba was scoring tries left, right and centre. He scored 26 tries in 27 games in the to Toyota cup competition in 2008. His sensational performances, try scoring ability and attacking flair caught the eye of the Canterbury Bankstown supporters. All the supporters strongly believed that he will be a future star and fan favourite and he should be put into the First Grade side and he would be able to help them win some games and avoid the wooden spoon. But Canterbury Coach, former Club player and Australian International Steve Folkes stated that he was still too young and it would be a couple of years till he would become a First Grader. As the season went on Canterbury kept on losing games and were possibly going to cop the Wooden Spoon and the fans kept on urging that Barba be put into First Grade. He finally made his First Grade Debut For Canterbury in Round 20 of 2008, the same week that Sonny Bill Williams controversially quit the club, where they were heavily beaten by the St. George Illawarra Dragons 30-0 at ANZ Stadium. He played 3 more games for Canterbury in 2008 but resulted in embrassing losses against the Wests Tigers at ANZ Stadium 56-4 in Round 21. A 36-12 loss to the other desperate team close to winning the Wooden Spoon the North Queensland Cowboys at Suncorp Stadium with Barba scoring his first ever First Grade try for the club in Round 22 and Round 23 in Canterbury's 52-16 loss against the Penrith Panthers at CUA Stadium. At the end of 2008 he played 4 Games and scored 1 Try.

2009

Barba started the 2009 season in First Grade under new Coach, former Canterbury player and the son of former Great and famous CEO Peter "Bullfrog" Moore, Kevin Moore. He came on as a substitute in Round 1 in Canterbury's 34-12 win over the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles. That game was the game that Former NSW City, NSW State of Origin player and Former Lebanese and Australian International and Club Great Hazem El Masri became Australian Rugby League's top Point Scorer. Ben played the next couple of games in First Grade in Round 2 Canterbury's 28-26 win against the Penrith Panthers at CUA Stadium and Round 3 in Canterbury's 20-12 loss against the Gold Coast Titans at Skilled Stadium. Then after the loss he got into an incident with Canterbury team mate Jamal Idris. After the incident he was dropped into second grade and played many games and scored tries for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs reserve grade side. He returned to first grade in Round 18 in Canterbury's lucky 18-14 win against the New Zealand Warriors over in Auckland. That game was a memorable one for Barba and for the Club. The Bulldogs were down 14-12 with a couple of minutes to go, then the Dogs made a break and Barba received a pass of Ben Roberts then stepped and dived over for the winning Try. Barba eventually played the rest of the 2009 season in Reserve Grade. He played in Canterbury's 2009 NSW Cup Reserve Grade Grand Final and Premiership win over the Balmain Ryde Eastwood Tigers 32-0 where he had a Magic game where he scored a Hat Trick 3 Tries. At the end of 2009 he played only 4 Games and scoring only 1 Try like 2008.

2010

Barba started the new decade, season 2010 in First Grade. He played in Round 1 in Canterbury's 20-16 loss against the Newcastle Knights coming on as a substitute. The next week he scored his first Try of the season in the Bulldogs 26-6 loss against that year's Premiers St. George Illawarra Dragons at WIN Stadium. The next week Barba came on as a Substitute and scored a Hat Trick 3 Tries in Canterbury's charging 60-14 massacre over the Sydney Roosters at ANZ Stadium. After that match he was given the Tag " The X-Factor " and became a regular First Grader. In Round 4 he scored 1 try in Canturbury's 38-16 loss to the South Sydney Rabbitohs at ANZ Stadium. In Round 5 he scored a sensational try when halftime was approaching in Canturbury's heartbreaking try on full time 30-24 loss to the New Zealand Warriors at ANZ Stadium. In Round 7 he scored a great Try against the Brisbane Broncos at ANZ Stadium where Canterbury won 36-18. In Round 11 he started for the first time in the season at Halfback in Canterbury's 31-16 loss against the Penrith Panthers at CUA Stadium. In Round 15 Barba came on as a substitute, he scored 2 Tries and almost won Canterbury the game in their 25-24 loss to the Gold Coast Titans at Suncorp Stadium. In Round 16 he filled in the Five-Eighth position and scored 1 try in Canterbury's 18-10 win against the Canberra Raiders at Canberra Stadium. In Round 17 he scored 2 Tries in Canterbury's 24-12 win over the Cronulla Sharks at Bluetongue Stadium in Gosford . In Round 20 he scored 1 try in Canterbury's 32-16 loss against the Parramatta Eels at ANZ Stadium in Bulldogs veteran halfback Brett Kimmorley 300th first grade game. In Round 22 he scored 1 try in Canterbury's 30-6 loss against the Newcastle Knights at Ausgrid Stadium. He scored his final try of 2010 in Round 26 when he scored his 15th Try of the season, a brilliant long run to score in Canterbury's 30-24 win over Manly at Brookvale Oval. At the end of 2010 he played 21 Games scoring 15 Tries.

2011

At the beginning of 2011 Barba made his representative debut for the Indigenous All Stars in the 2011 All Stars Match where he scored his first ever representative try in that match where they lost to the NRL All Stars 28-12. With the departure of former Canterbury and NSW Country fullback Luke Patten to English club The Salford City Reds, Barba became the Bulldogs new fullback. He played well in Canterbury's 24-14 win over the Wests Tigers in Round 1. Barba scored his first 2 tries of the season in Round 3 in Canterbury's 24-20 win over Eastern Suburbs at ANZ Stadium. In Round 6 he scored another Hat Trick 3 Tries in their 34-14 win over Great Rivals the Parramatta Eels at ANZ Stadium, the second coming with 49 seconds of the first half remaining, from a move starting in his team's own half, (which could have resulted in a try for teammate Kris Keatings under the posts, had Tim Lafai passed sooner) and finishing with Barba taking a pass from Jamal Idris, jumping up and twisting the ball round to touch down just inside the in-goal area, as two Eels defenders tried to force him out into touch, his shoulder touching the corner post in the process, with the corner post no longer being part of the touch in-goal area. The next week in Round 7 he scored 2 tries in Canterbury's 36-24 win over South Sydney at ANZ Stadium. The 2 Tries he scored that night he dedicated those tries to his new born child. A try from a well collected offload from Corey Payne in a 20-12 loss to the Brisbane Broncos at Suncorp Stadium in Round 8. A dazzling try in Round 11 in the 20-12 loss against the Canberra Raiders at Canberra Stadium. In Round 13 he scored 1 try in Canterbury's heavy 38-4 loss to Manly at ANZ Stadium. A 85 metre try from a mistake from the Sharks with Bulldogs Prop Sam Kasiano picking up the loose ball then offloading the ball into Barba with him scoring in Canterbury's 26-10 loss against the Cronulla Sharks at ANZ Stadium. In Round 16 he scored 1 Try in Canterbury's 16-6 win over the Wests Tigers at Campbelltown Sports Stadium. In Round 18 he scored 1 try when he evaded two storm defenders to the tryline in Canterbury's 28-18 loss against the Melbourne Storm at Adelaide Oval. In Round 21 he scored his 15th Try of the season, a length of the field Try in Canterbury's 32-28 loss to the Sydney Roosters at the Sydney Football Stadium. He went on to bag a further 8 tries in 4 games which include a 70 metre try in Round 23 against the Cronulla Sharks in Canturbury's 19-12 victory at Toyota Stadium. A grubber kick ricochet try in Canterbury's 25-16 loss to the Manly Sea Eagles in Round 24 at Brookvale Oval. In Round 25 he scored two tries in Canterbury's 32-22 win against the Newcastle Knights at ANZ Stadium in a thrilling second half comeback after they were trailing 22-6 at halftime and Barba scoring an amazing beautiful try when he chased down a Jonathan Wright cross over kick which was going to go over the dead ball line then he snaked out his arms and placed the ball down millimetres away from the white strip. In the final round of the season in Round 26 with the Bulldogs just missing out of a top eight spot in the final series. Barba scored a merciual 4 tries in Canturbury's 36-22 win against the Canberra Raiders at ANZ Stadium in retiring Bulldogs Captain and Second Rower Andrew Ryan last ever game for the Bulldogs. Barba scored a total of 23 tries in the year to finish equal top try scorer with South Sydney Rabbitohs Winger Nathan Merritt.

2012

Barba began his 2012 Campaign by playing Representative Rugby League for the NRL Indigenous All Stars team in the 2012 All Stars Match where the Indigenous Team lost to the NRL All Stars 36-28. Ben scored his opening try of the 2012 NRL Season in the opening game in a 24-14 away win over the Penrith Panthers. His second try of the season came in Round 3 in Canterbury's 34-18 away win over the New Zealand Warriors.

Barba was named as the Queensland rugby league team's 18th man, a backup player for use in case of an injury in the lead up to Game II of the 2012 State of Origin series.

Barba has scored an impressive 19 tries in 21 games so far this season.He leads the NRL in linebreaks with 19 so far this season at NRL [Round 20].

At the 2012 Dally M Awards Barba was awarded the Dally M Medal as the NRL's player of the year. In addition he won the 'Peter Frilingos Headline Moment of the Year', the Provan-Summons Medal as 'People's Choice' player of the year as well as being named fullback of the year. Barba played in all of Canterbury's 2012 Finals Series games which included a try in their win against rivals Manly in the Qualifying final and also played in their Preliminary final win over Souths and in their 2012 NRL Grand Final loss to the Melbourne Storm. Barba finished 2012 as the Bulldogs and the NRL's top try scorer, Player of the year award winner and a Grand Final Runners Up medal.

2013

In February, Barba was stood down indefinitely from player duties at the Bulldogs due to behavioural issues and for breaches of the club's code of conduct as a result of his off-field behaviour. He had numerous personal issues to resolve before being allowed to play again for the Bulldogs.

Statistics

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs

Year	Matches	Tries	Goals	F/G	Points
2008	1	1	0	0	4
2009	4	1	0	0	4
2010	21	15	0	0	60
2011	24	23	0	0	92
2012	21	21	0	0	84
Total	77	61	0	0	244

Indigenous All Stars

Year	Matches	Tries	Goals	F/G	Points
2010	1	2	0	0	8
2012	1	0	0	0	0
2013	1	3	0	0	12
Total	3	5	0	0	20

Personal life

On the March 31, 2009 Barba was involved in a parking lot brawl with teammate Jamal Idris, they were both disciplined and dropped to NSW Cup. The pair have since reconciled. Barba's older brother Aaron played rugby league in the Queensland Cup, setting the competition record for most tries in a season with 33 in 2003. Barba has a younger brother, Marmin, who has signed to play fullback or in the halves for the Gold Coast Titans in the 2013 NRL season.

Barba has two children with his ex-girlfriend Ainslie: Bodhi (b. 2009) and Bronte (b. 2011).

External links

• Canterbury Bulldogs profile