Jason Stevens

Jason Stevens

Personal information
Full name	Jason Anthony Stevens
Nickname	Stevo
Born	(1973-01-08) 8 January 1973 (age 44) Sydney, Australia
Playing information
Height	193 cm (6 ft 4 in)
Weight	111 kg (17 st 7 lb)
Position	Prop
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1992–96 St George Dragons 64 3 0 0 12 1997–05 Cronulla Sharks 167 10 0 0 40 Total 231 13 0 0 52 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1998–01 Australia 18 0 0 0 0 1999–04 New South Wales 8 0 0 0 0 2003–05 City NSW 3 0 0 0 0 1997 Australia(SL) 4 0 0 0 0
Source: RLP

Jason Anthony Stevens (born 8 January 1973 in Sydney, New South Wales) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer of the 1990s and 2000s, a writer, screenwriter and actor. An Australia national and New South Wales State of Origin representative prop forward, he played his club football in Sydney for the St. George Dragons and Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks. Stevens retired from competitive rugby league in 2005 and has since worked as a rugby league writer.

Stevens was born in Sydney, Australia. One of his grandfathers was Greek and his surname was Papadopoulos. Stevens began playing rugby league for his school, Marist College Kogarah, in the St. George area as well as playing for local club side the Brighton Seagulls after a request by a friend to join. The then captain of the St. George Dragons, Michael Beattie, recommended that he be signed for the Dragons on the scholarship programme in his mid-teens and he went on to represent the Dragons in the Matthews Cup while still in school in 1991.

In 1992, after being signed by the St. George Dragons, Stevens moved into the Dragons Under 21's side and reached his first Grand Final for the Dragons (Under 21's) but ended up on the losing side going down to the Western Suburbs Magpies. That year (while still in his teens) he made his first grade debut for the St. George Dragons against the Penrith Panthers at Jubilee Oval on 5 July 1992.

During the 1993 season Stevens became a first team regular for the Dragons, playing the majority of the season in first grade and making it to his first first grade Grand Final against Brisbane at only twenty years of age. The day turned sour though when, in the second tackle of the game, Stevens injured his thumb badly and had to be taken from the field to hospital for surgery; the Dragons eventually lost the game without him taking any further part (it was later reported that in the wake of the Dragons 14-6 loss to the Broncos that the only team mate to visit Stevens in hospital was Phil Blake).