Steve Folkes

Steven John Folkes (30 January 1959 – 27 February 2018) was an Australian professional rugby league footballer and coach of the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the National Rugby League. He represented both New South Wales and Australia

Steve Folkes
Personal information
Full nameSteven John Folkes[1]
Born(1959-01-30)30 January 1959
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Died27 February 2018(2018-02-27) (aged 59)
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Playing information
Height178 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight85 kg (13 st 5 lb)
PositionSecond-row
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1978–89 Canterbury Bulldogs 235 45 0 0 159
1989–90 Hull F.C. 24 6 0 0 24
1991 Canterbury Bulldogs 10 1 0 0 4
Total 269 52 0 0 187
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1986–88 New South Wales 9 0 0 0 0
1986–88 Australia 5 2 0 0 8
Coaching information
Club
Years Team Gms W D L W%
1998–2008 Canterbury Bulldogs 288 162 7 119 56
Representative
Years Team Gms W D L W%
2014–16 Australia Women 3 1 0 2 33
Source: [2][3][4]

Playing career

Folkes, who was Captain of Punchbowl Boys' High School, came from the Bankstown Sports Junior Rugby League Club. He played 245 first grade games and 308 grade games for the Bulldogs between 1978 and 1991, as well as 24 games for Hull F.C. in England.

He also represented New South Wales on nine occasions in State of Origin football. At the end of the 1986 NSWRL season, he went on the 1986 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France. He played a total of five Tests between 1986 and 1988. As a player, Folkes played in 6 Grand Finals (1979, 80, 84, 85, 86 and 88) winning on four occasions.

Coaching career

After serving as reserve grade coach of Canterbury between 1996 and 1997, Folkes was appointed coach of Canterbury-Bankstown to succeed Chris Anderson. In his first year as coach, Canterbury made the 1998 NRL grand final, where they lost to Wayne Bennett's Brisbane Broncos.

Canterbury-Bankstown appeared poised to claim the 2002 NRL premiership but were disqualified and stripped 37 premiership points after a major salary cap breach was uncovered. Folkes claimed his premiership two seasons later with a 16–13 victory over the Sydney Roosters in the grand final.

Steve Folkes was awarded Dally M Coach of the Year in 2004.

The 2004 grand final victory continued a unique tradition at the Bulldogs: Every coach appointed by the club since 1978 (Ted Glossop, Warren Ryan, Phil Gould, Chris Anderson and Folkes) has won a premiership. At the end of the 2007 season, Folkes' win record with the Bulldogs was 60%. On 7 April 2008, Canterbury-Bankstown announced that Folkes tenure as would end with the 2008 season. To date, he remains the club's longest serving coach[5]

Following his departure from the Canterbury club, Folkes took up a position as strength and conditioning coach for the West Indies cricket team.[6] In October 2009, Folkes returned to rugby league, accepting the role of strength and conditioning coach for the Wests Tigers.[7] In 2011, he was an assistant coach with the club.

It was announced in May 2011 that Folkes would join the St George Illawarra Dragons as the assistant coach to Steve Price from 2012.[8]

In 2014, Folkes was appointed head coach for the Australia women's national rugby league team.[9]

Personal life

Folkes was married to Karen, the daughter of Bulldogs 'godfather', Peter Moore. She died on 2 June 2013 from cancer.[10]

Death

Folkes died at his home on 27 February 2018, reportedly of a heart attack, at the age of 59.[11] An autopsy found that he had been suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a neurodegenerative disease caused by repeated head injuries.[12]

Coaching record
Steve Folkes - Coaching Results by Season[13]
NRL Team Year Games Wins Losses Draws Win % Finals Series
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs1998291712058.62%Grand Final: 12-38 v Brisbane
199926169161.53%Semi Final: 22-24 v Melbourne
2000261015138.46%
200128178360.71%Semi Final: 10-52 v Cronulla
200224203183.3%
2003271710062.96%Preliminary Final: 18-28 v Sydney Roosters
200428226078.57%Grand Final: 16-13 v Sydney Roosters
200524914137.5%
200626179065.38%Preliminary Final: 20-37 v Brisbane
2007261214046.15%Semi Final: 6-25 v Parramatta
200824519020.83%
Career288162119756.3%at 30 September 2008

Footnotes
  1. Lane, Daniel (27 February 2018). "Vale Steve Folkes, a man of steel who didn't need a cape". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
  2. Rugby League Project
  3. Yesterday's Hero Archived 3 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Rugby League Project Coaches
  5. "Folkes to call it quits". News Limited. 7 April 2008. Retrieved 4 October 2008.
  6. "Steve Folkes joins West Indies". The Sydney Morning Herald. 30 October 2008.
  7. Read, Brent (15 September 2009). "Folkes set to return with Tigers". The Australian.
  8. "Folkes leaves Tigers for Dragons". The Leader. 11 May 2011.
  9. "Folkes appointed as Jillaroos Head Coach". 4 August 2014.
  10. "Family reunion in Melbourne". AAP Sports News (Australia). 7 July 2000. Archived from the original (fee required) on 16 May 2011. Retrieved 1 November 2007.
  11. "Bulldogs legend Steve Folkes found dead". 27 February 2018.
  12. "Rugby codes will 'cease to exist' within a generation, says medical pioneer". stuff. 11 August 2019. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  13. "Bulldogs profile". Archived from the original on 22 July 2012. Retrieved 1 November 2007.
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