Billy Moore (rugby league)

Billy Moore (born 7 May 1971 in Tenterfield, New South Walesr) is an Australian former rugby league footballer of the 1980s and 90s. Usually playing at Lock or in the Second-row, he played representative football for both Queensland and Australia.

Moore grew up in Wallangarra, Queensland. He was born in Tenterfield (NSW), due to the hospital there being closer than the one in Stanthorpe (QLD). Moore was quoted as saying "My Mum assures me I was rushed back to the Channel Country before the oxygen had time to affect my lungs."

Moore represented New South Wales under-17s while in high school at Stanthorpe, Qld. He moved to the North Sydney Bears in 1989 and played in the club's reserve grade premiership side. With a radical change of the guard the following year, Moore and a number of other players (including long-time back-row partner David Fairleigh) became regular first graders the following year and propelled the club from also-rans in 1989 to finalists in 1991. Although Moore damaged a jaw at the start of that year, he played superbly in the first semi-final win by the Bears for 39 years against Manly, scoring two tries. Moore was first selected in Queensland's State of Origin side in 1992. Moore was the sole try-scorer in the Maroons' 5-4 win in the second match of the series at Lang Park.

Moore was a regular selection for the maroon jersey for three seasons and famously yelled 'Queenslander! Queenslander!' in an attempt to motivate an underdog Maroons team on their way out of the tunnel in 1995. Moore was reacting to the fact that New South Wales players had said they would belt the first person that said he was a Queenslander. The young Queenslanders won the series 3 nil without its star Super League players. While Moore was initially overlooked for Test duty against New Zealand, he won a place in Australia's World Cup squad at the end of the year. He made one appearance in the competition, against South Africa, before playing further ARL Tests against Fiji (1996) and Rest of the World (1997) in consecutive years.