Michael Platt

Michael Platt (born 23 March 1984) is a former Ireland international rugby league footballer who played for the Salford Red Devils; he joined the Salford Red Devils in April 2014 and is contacted until the end of the 2014 season following a successful trial with the Superleague club..Michael joined the Red Devils following 3 appearances with the North Wales Crusaders in 2014. Platt's 1st choice position is Full Back but he has been more effective at Centre for the Bradford Bulls winning the 'Rugby League World Centre of the Month' for August.

For other people named Michael Platt, see Michael Platt (disambiguation).

Michael Platt
Personal information
Full nameMichael Platt
Born (1984-03-23) 23 March 1984
Manchester, Greater Manchester, England
Height6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Weight15 st 8 lb (99 kg)[1]
Playing information
PositionFull back
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2001–04 Salford City Reds 13 4 0 0 4
2004–05 Rochdale Hornets 22 10 0 0 40
2005–06 Castleford Tigers 55 23 0 0 92
2007–13 Bradford Bulls 143 46 0 0 184
2013 Dewsbury Rams 1 0 0 0 0
2014 North Wales Crusaders 3 0 0 0 0
2014 Salford Red Devils 2 1 0 0 4
2014 Barrow Raiders 2 0 0 0 0
2014–15 Leigh Centurions 15 7 0 0 28
Total 256 91 0 0 352
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2003–14 Ireland 7 2 0 0 8
As of 2 November 2014
Source: [2][3]

Background

Platt was born in Manchester, England.

Early career

Platt started his career at the Salford City Reds, making his début in the Super League against the Wakefield Trinity Wildcats in the final game of the 2001 season at just 17. However he never quite made the grade and was released by the club.

Michael then signed for the Rochdale Hornets. His impressive début season was somewhat blighted by a broken jaw, although he did go on to win the National League's Young Player of the Year award in 2004.

Castleford Tigers

Michael then joined the Castleford Tigers, and helped the Tigers gain promotion in 2005. Despite the subsequent Super League season proving to be difficult in a squad which lacked quality, Platt still managed to score 7 tries. However, after a heartbreaking 29–17 defeat against Wakefield in the final game of the season, Castleford were relegated.

Bradford Bulls

Platt joined the Bradford Bulls in 2007 after a dispute between Platt and Castleford over his availability. His first season started well and he topped the try-scorers league for a number of weeks at the start of the season. He extended his contract in 2011 for a further 2 years, meaning he will stay with the Bulls until at least 2013.

SeasonAppearanceTriesGoalsF/GPoints
2007 Bradford Bulls28140056
2008 Bradford Bulls2050020
2009 Bradford Bulls2040016
2010 Bradford Bulls2150020
2011 Bradford Bulls212008
2012 Bradford Bulls18110044
2013 Bradford Bulls1350020
2014 North Wales Crusaders30000
2014 Salford Red Devils20000
Total1484600184

Return to hometown club

On 18 April 2014, Salford head coach, and former Bradford Bulls team-mate, Iestyn Harris signed up Michael to play for the Red Devils for the remainder of the 2014 season.[4][5]

International

Platt is an Irish international.[6] He was overlooked by Tony Smith for Great Britain and this has been seen to be due to his allegiance to Ireland for the World Cup 2008 in Australia, and the continuing outstanding form of Paul Wellens. However he was called up for the Great Britain Squad for the 2007 test series with New Zealand, and played at full back for the prestigious Northern Union game against All Golds in a centenary match.

He was named in the Ireland training squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup,[7] and the Ireland squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup.[8]

In October 2014, Platt played in the European Cup competition.

gollark: Also, bitfields meaning those things where you condense a bunch of bool options into a multiple-bit thing, right?
gollark: Then maybe you're using the wrong types.
gollark: Nobody will ever know.
gollark: Why do you *want* "numeric coercion"? Is it too hard to occasionally do "x as u64"?
gollark: There's mem::transmute.

References
  1. "The official Engage Super League web site". web page. Super League. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
  2. loverugbyleague
  3. Rugby League Project
  4. http://www.superleague.co.uk/article/30004/platt-becomes-a-red-devil
  5. https://www.bbc.com/sport/0/rugby-league/27067955
  6. "Statistics at thecastlefordtigers.co.uk". thecastlefordtigers.co.uk ℅ web.archive.org. 31 December 2013. Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  7. "Ireland Name World Cup 40 Man Training Squad". Rugby League Ireland. 1 August 2008. Retrieved 2 August 2008.
  8. "Cassidy included in Ireland squad". BBC. 7 October 2008. Retrieved 7 October 2008.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.