Kris Radlinski MBE (born April 9, 1976 in Wigan, England) is a former English rugby league full-back who played for his hometown club Wigan Warriors throughout his career and also represented Great Britain. He is of Polish descent.^[1]

[edit] Playing career

He signed for the town's club in 1993, aged 17, and went on to play his entire professional career with them.

In a 13-year playing career he was a Championship winner in 1996, won the Regal Trophy 1996, was named in the Super League Dream Team of 1998 and won the Grand Final in 1998 and the Challenge Cup in 2002. In the 2002 Challenge Cup final at Murrayfield he won the Lance Todd Trophy for man of the match. Kris competed in this match despite being in hospital all week prior to Wigan's 21-12 victory over St Helens with a serious foot infection.

He was given a testimonial year in 2005 for his loyal service to Wigan Warriors, and despite that year being very successful for the team, it was a difficult season for Kris with him making only 15 appearances for the team through a knee injury. His testimonial match was played at the JJB Stadium on the 29th January 2006 against the Huddersfield Giants. Wigan won this match 38-22.

[edit] International career

Internationally he was capped 20 times by Great Britain, and won 10 England caps. The pinnacle of his international career, in which he was a main stay in the international setup, saw him captain the team against New Zealand 'A'. He scored three tries in this match.

[edit] Rugby Union

He has twice been linked with a big money move to rugby union, in 2001 and 2005, but both times chose to remain faithful to his hometown club. One of these offers was to be part of the England Rugby Union team in the preparations for the 2003 World Cup.

[edit] Retirement

Radlinski announced his retirement from the sport prematurely on 2 March 2006 due to persistent injuries. He had made 310 appearances for Wigan, scoring 183 tries. This brought down the curtain on a successful career during which the player was a loyal servant to his club and to the game of Rugby League.

[edit] Comeback

In June 2006 Radlinski made the shock announcement that he would be coming out of retirement to help his old club Wigan Warriors. Kris had retired from Rugby League and left the Warriors earlier in 2006 but after watching Wigan struggle in Super League XI he decided to come out of retirement to help them avoid relegation. His first match on his return, on the 18th June 2006, saw the Wigan Warriors beat Catalan Dragons 24-18. He played the rest of the season for "no fee". Wigan stayed in Super League whilst Castleford Tigers were relegated.

[edit] Honors

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Kris Radlikski official website
• Kris Radlinski Wigan Career Page on the CherryandWhite.co.uk Wigan RL Fansite.
• Kris Radlinski Wigan Profile
• 2001 Ashes profile
• RFL hails impact of Radlinski MBE
• Radlinski Receives MBE
• Radlinski stunned by MBE
• International Statistics at englandrl.co.uk
• Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org