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| Full name | John Muggleton | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1960-01-16)16 January 1960 (age 65) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playing information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 185 cm (6 ft 1 in)[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 86 kg (13 st 8 lb)[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Second-row, Centre | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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John Muggleton (born 16 January 1960) is an Australian formerrugby league footballer who represented theParramatta Eels in theNew South Wales Rugby League premiership, New South Wales inState of Origin competition and theAustralian national team (1982), plusHull FC in England.
Muggleton originally played juniorrugby union withDundas Valley before switching torugby league at the age of 16 to play forRyde District Devils, in theBalmain junior competition.[4]
Muggleton was initially graded as a fullback with Balmain, but moved to Parramatta in 1980 and the following year, jumped suddenly into first grade just as the Eels won their first premiership.
1982 saw Muggleton become as a second rower an integral part of Parramatta's most dominant NRL team, providing a second kicker to supportPeter Sterling, who was later to become his brother-in-law, and showing abundant ball skills to create opportunities for a famous backline of Sterling,Brett Kenny,Mick Cronin,Steve Ella andEric Grothe, Sr. Muggleton was chosen for the1982 Kangaroo Tour, which became known as “The Invincibles” as it steamrolled through England and France to win all 22 games, the first time theAussies had gone through aKangaroo Tour undefeated.
However, after that, Muggleton had a great deal of trouble retaining his place during a succession of injuries and much competition fromMark Laurie,Peter Wynn andSteve Sharp in Parramatta's second row.
By 1984, he was used chiefly as a reserve, andin 1984–85 Muggleton had a spell in the UK playing forHull FC, alongside Sterling, in the then Rugby League First Division. John Muggleton played atsecond-row inHull FC's 24—28 defeat byWigan in the1985 Challenge Cup Final atWembley Stadium,London on Saturday 4 May 1985, in front of a crowd of 99,801,[5] in what is regarded as the most marvellous cup final in living memory,[6] which Hull narrowly lost after fighting back from 12—28 down at half-time. In the1985 NSWRL season, Muggleton after returning from England in May played all but one match for Parramatta in reserve grade.[7] However, with his past experience in the centres, Muggleton was recalled in early 1986 when regular centres Cronin and Ella were injured.[7] Developing as a goalkicker, Muggleton was able to keep his first grade berth and re-establish himself firmlyin 1987 with the retirement of long-standing lockRay Price. A highlight that season was a booming field goal to beat St. George 21 points to 20 with the last kick of the day. However, in 1988 Muggleton was again out of favour and suffered two broken jaws,[8] with the result that in his last two seasons he would start only two first grade matches.
After this, Muggleton turned to coaching, being most successful with North Sydney's struggling President's Cup outfit in 1993 where he lifted them from twelfth to sixth.[citation needed]
Muggleton was the defence coach with theMelbourne Rebels in theSuper Rugby competition, serving from 2011 to 2013.[9][10][11][12][13]Muggleton left the Rebels at the end of the season. His last game as the defence coach of the Rebels was a home game against New Zealand franchise the Highlanders, a match that also turned out to be the last Rebels match for head coachDamien Hill and playersJames O'Connor,Gareth Delve,Cooper Vuna,Ged Robinson,Nick Phipps andNic Henderson. In front of over 12,000 spectators, the Rebels overcame a 24-point half-time deficit to achieve a remarkable 38-37 come-from-behind victory over the Highlanders, ending Muggleton's tenure as a Rebels assistant coach on a winning note.[14][15]
He coachedGeorgia at the2011 Rugby World Cup.[9][16] And, prior to that he was the defensive coach of theLlanelli Scarlets in south-west Wales.[17][18]
On 25 July 2014, Muggleton became the new Defence Coach for English rugby clubGloucester Rugby who compete in theAviva Premiership[19]
Muggleton has been the defence coach at the Parramatta Two Blues Rugby Club since November 2015[20]