Jim Devereux

Who is Jim Devereux?

Jim Devereux was an Australian rugby league footballer of the earlier 20th century. A New South Wales and Australian international representative three-quarter back, he played in the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership from its first season in 1908 for the North Sydney club.

The son of Irish immigrant parents, Devereux played for New South Wales against New Zealand, and later in all three of Australia's first ever test matches in 1908 against New Zealand on the return leg of their tour of Britain. He was a member of the side chosen for the first ever Kangaroo tour and was the first Australian to score a try in rugby league against Great Britain when he got a hat-trick in the first ever test between the two nations. After the tour he stayed in England and played for Hull FC. There he won the 1913-14 Challenge Cup with them and became the first player to score 100 tries for the club.

Devereux was in England during World War I and served in the military, in April 1916 gaining selection in an Australasian servicemen's rugby union side.

Devereux coached North Sydney in the 1924 NSWRFL season.

On 26 August 2006 the North Sydney club announced their team of the century, with Devereux named in the centres.