David Fairleigh made his first grade debut for the Bears in round 17 of 1989 and for ten seasons from 1990 was a permanent first grade player and North Sydney stalwart.
16 Facts About David Fairleigh
1.
2.
David Fairleigh made his State of Origin debut in game III of 1991.
3.
David Fairleigh was not selected in 1992 but appeared again in 1993 playing in all 3 games for NSW and winning the series.
4.
David Fairleigh played State of Origin from 1991 to 1997, playing in 10 games.
5.
David Fairleigh made his Test debut for Australian in a one-off test against France.
6.
David Fairleigh appeared in twelve minor tour matches and two Tests, scoring five tries on tour.
7.
David Fairleigh had been selected for the second Test but withdrew on the morning of the match with a virus.
8.
David Fairleigh played in all three games of 1993,1995,1997 Origin series and the 3rd game of the 1991 series for a career total of ten appearances for the Blues.
9.
David Fairleigh was selected in the Australian team to play against Fiji and Papua New Guinea in 1996.
10.
David Fairleigh was second in the Rothmans Medal in 1996 behind teammate Jason Taylor.
11.
David Fairleigh played a total of 193 games for Norths and played in 3 of their 4 preliminary final losses during the 1990s as the club fell agonizingly short of a grand final appearance.
12.
In 2006 an expert panel of judges selected a North Sydney team of the century in which David Fairleigh was selected in the starting thirteen in the second-row.
13.
David Fairleigh went on to develop a comprehensive reviewing platform for games which has been used across Newcastle, Parramatta, New Zealand and Penrith, where he was employed as an assistant coach; all four clubs have reached Grand Finals across all 3 grades whilst he was there.
14.
David Fairleigh coached the Cook Islands national rugby league team in the 2013 Rugby League World Cup.
15.
David Fairleigh spent 5 years developing Rugby League in the Cook Islands with a special focus on developing a competitive International programme.
16.
In 2016 David Fairleigh took time off from coaching NRL football to give back to grassroots football.