Marcus Bai

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Marcus Bai (born November 10, 1972) is a Papua New Guinean former rugby league footballer. Primarily a winger, he played his final season in 2006 for English Super League team Bradford Bulls. He is the only man to win the World Club Challenge with three different clubs. In 2005 he was minutes away from being the 1st person to win all of the major domestic competitions in both Australia and England (NRL, Super League, World Club Championship, League Leaders Shield & Challenge Cup) however Hull struck with minutes to go in the Challenge Cup final to deny Leeds the cup and him a place in the history books. Ironically it was his mistake that ultimately gifted Hull the cup.

[edit] Playing career

Astonishingly Marcus Bai never played junior rugby league at any level, although he did play Australian rules football as a schoolboy in West New Britain. A Papua New Guinea international, he has represented his country on numerous occasions including at the 1995 Rugby League World Cup. He began his career playing for the Port Moresby Vipers in Australia.

[edit] Hull FC

He began his professional career playing for Hull FC in England where he made eight appearances for them in 1997.

[edit] Gold Coast Chargers

Then moved to the Gold Coast Chargers in Australia. He played the final 18 games of the season scoring 5 tries. That year he was selected to play for the Rest of the World side to play a match against an ARL test side. Although his spell for the Gold Coast was a brief one, it allowed Bai to make a name for himself, while in the process prompting Melbourne Storm to sign him in 1998 in their inaugural season.

[edit] Melbourne Storm

He was named Dally M Winger of the Year in his first year at the Melbourne Storm. In his second season for Melbourne, he was part of the 1999 National Rugby League winning side in which he played in every game. In 2000 Marcus Bai again represented his country this time at the 2000 Rugby League World Cup playing in all four of his countries games and scoring three tries. That year for the Storm, Bai was hampered by injuries, including being cut on his right arm by the steel advertising boards. In all he spent six years playing for the Melbourne Storm, playing 144 first grade games and scoring a total of 70 tries.

[edit] Leeds Rhinos

After displaying his ability with some impressive performances for Melbourne Storm, Bai transferred to English Super League club the Leeds Rhinos. His debut for the club was against Castleford Tigers on the Boxing Day Festive Challenge during which he scored a try after coming off the bench. His full first team debut came against the London Broncos on the opening day of the 2004 Super League season. He announced his arrival at the club in the best possible fashion, by scoring a hat-trick on his full debut in front of the Leeds Rhinos home crowd. Marcus Bai had become an instant hit with the Leeds fans. Later that year in his first full season for Leeds, Marcus Bai scored a hat-trick in the grand final eliminator which helped Leeds on their way to booking their place at Old Trafford.

In 2005, Bai was again impressive making 32 appearances and scoring 19 tries in all competitions. In all he spent two full seasons with Leeds making 63 appearances and scoring 45 tries including four hat-tricks. He is currently just one of seven players to win a Grand Final in the premier Rugby League competitions in both England and Australia. He helped Leeds to their 2004 Grand Final success against the Bradford Bulls and was also in the Leeds side that lost a year later in the Grand Final ironically to the Bradford Bulls.

[edit] Bradford Bulls

Marcus Bai left the Leeds Rhinos after spending two successful years with them. He penned a contract with the Bradford Bulls for the 2006 Super League season. Marcus Bai got his Bradford Bulls career off to a good start scoring two tries on his debut in Bradford's World Club Challenge match against the Wests Tigers in which they won 30-10.

At the end of his first season with the Bulls, Marcus was awarded the Best Back of the Year Award by the club.

Marcus signed a one-year extension to his contract at Bradford in 2006 which would have kept him at Grattan Stadium until the end of 2007, however in December Marcus announced his retirement from the sport with immediate effect.

[edit] External links

• Marcus Bai Official Player Profile
• the baistand.com