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Keith Senior
Personal information
Nickname	Beef
Born	24 April 1976 (1976-04-24) (age 33)
	Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England
Height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight	16 st 0 lb (101 kg)
Playing information
Position	Centre
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
1995–1999	Sheffield Eagles	139				220
1999–	Leeds Rhinos	300	152			608
	Total	439	152	0	0	828
Representative
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
1996–2007	Great Britain	33
2000–2009	England	8	2	0	0	8
As of 27 May, 2009

Keith Senior (born 24 April 1976 in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire) is an English professional rugby league footballer with the Leeds Rhinos of Super League. He is also a Great Britain representative centre and was named in the World XIII in 2002, 2003 and 2004.

[edit] Sheffield Eagles

Gary Hetherington signed Senior from Huddersfield YMCA rugby union team. He made 130 starts and 9 substitute appearances for the Eagles, scoring 55 tries over his five years at the club. Two of these tries came against Leeds in both fixtures during the 1998 season.

In 1996 Senior was the club's top try scorer with 17 tries and he repeated this feat again in 1998 with a further 19. It was also in this year that Senior gained his first winner's medal of his professional career when Sheffield shocked the rugby league world when they beat Wigan 17-8 in the Challenge Cup Final.

[edit] Leeds Rhinos

Great Britain international Senior signed for the Rhinos on the last day of the regular season of 1999 making his debut on the same day at Headingley against London Broncos. After a quiet start to his Leeds career, Senior burst into life in 2000 finishing the season as joint top try scorer with 18 touchdowns before scoring 16 in 2001.

He scored 24 tries the following year and then in 2003 he was named the Leeds Rhinos Players Player of the Year after collecting 12 tries in all competitions. In 2004 Senior was a regular in the centres and was fundamental to the Rhinos success, playing 30 games and scoring 13 tries.

His performances gained him recognition when he was named in the Tetley’s Super League Dream Team of 2004 for the fourth year running. Since joining Leeds Senior has been one of the Rhinos top performers, with his superb driving runs and powerful tackles he is one of the Rhinos best all round performers.^{[citation needed]}

Senior became the 20th player in the 112year history of Leeds to score 100 tries in his career in 2005 and has currently scored 107 tries in 190 appearances including one appearance as a replacement for Leeds. In total he has 162 tries in 329 games in his domestic career.

Senior has the record for most appearances in Super League having played in the very first game in 1996 for Sheffield in Paris. He has scored four hat tricks for the Rhinos including two last season in the home wins over Warrington and Hull, he has also scored four tries on one occasion against Halifax in 2000.

He played in the 2008 Super League Grand Final victory over St Helens.^[1]

[edit] Testimonial match

Keith Senior's Testimonial match at Leeds took place in 2007.

[edit] Superleague Record

The table below shows a cumulative points and scoring records for Keith Senior at 27 May 2009.

[edit] Honoured by Arriva Yorkshire

Arriva Yorkshire honoured 13 rugby league footballers on Thursday the 20th of August 2009, at a ceremony at The Jungle, the home of the Castleford Tigers. A fleet of new buses were named after the 'Arriva Yorkshire Rugby League Dream Team'. Members of the public nominated the best ever rugby league footballers to have played in West Yorkshire, supported by local rugby league journalists; James Deighton from BBC Leeds, and Tim Butcher, editor of Rugby League World. The 'Arriva Yorkshire Rugby League Dream Team' is; Trevor Foster MBE, Neil Fox MBE, Albert Goldthorpe, Alan Hardisty, Stan Kielty, Lewis Jones, Roger Millward MBE, Malcolm Reilly, Garry Schofield, Keith Senior, David Topliss, Dave Valentine, and Adrian Vowles.^[2]

[edit] Great Britain and other representational rugby league

Senior made his name on the international scene in 1996 and has been a virtual ever present for Great Britain since. Senior made his first appearance off the bench against Fiji when he came on as a substitute during the 72-4 win and was a try scorer on the day, he followed this up with a second substitute appearance against New Zealand when the side lost 12-17 in Auckland.

He made his first team start in 1998 against New Zealand and started the subsequent two games of that test series. In 2001 he was selected for the Great Britain squad for the Ashes and was an ever present during the series. In 2001 he again joined the England side to beat Wales 42-33 in a Home Internationals game. In 2001 Senior made his debut for Yorkshire in the origin game at Headingley, he scored a try in that game however Yorkshire lost 24-36.

In 2002 he again represented his county when Yorkshire took on Lancashire, scoring a try in the second Origin game; however, the side lost on both occasions. In 2002 Senior was chosen for the Test match against Australia and joined the squad for the New Zealand Tour when Great Britain managed to win, lose and draw in the three Tests against New Zealand.

In 2003 Senior was part of the Great Britain squad who played in the Ashes and in the first test he scored a try, putting in a man of the match winning performance, despite Great Britain losing 18-22 to Australia. Senior played again in the second test, but missed out on the final game due to injury. In 2003 when Yorkshire finally beat Lancashire 56-6, he scored the first try of the game and added another in the closing minutes of the game.

Senior was also chosen to represent Great Britain in the 2004 Tri Nations and played in all five games of the competition. He played four games for England in the 2000 World Cup, scoring the crucial first try against Ireland in the quarter final to ensure their place in the semi final against New Zealand where their run in the competition came to an end with a 49-6 defeat.

In 2005 Senior was once again part of the Great Britain Tri Nations squad, scoring a try in their opening game against New Zealand, and again in their second encounter when the Lions defeated the eventual tournament winners 38-12.

Senior has been named in the England squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup.^[3]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Keith Senior Official Player Profile
• 2001 Ashes profile
• International Statistics at englandrl.co.uk
• Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org