Geoff Bugden

Who is Geoff Bugden?

Geoff Bugden is a former professional rugby league player. Bugden played for the Newtown Jets and the Parramatta Eels in the Australian New South Wales Rugby League competition. He primarily played in the front-row.

He was the first ever forward to win the NSW Rugby Leagues best and fairest player award, the Rothmans Medal, in 1980.

As a reserve for the Newtown Jets, Bugden played in the 1981 Grand Final against the Parramatta Eels, a match that Newtown lost. The next year, 1982, Bugden returned to the Sydney Cricket Ground playing for Parramatta in their Grand Final win over Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles.

A serious injury to his chest in 1983 forced Bugden to announce his retirement from the game but two years later, he was back for Parramatta only to break his arm. In 1986 Bugden was on the field once more and was part of the Eels' 1986 Grand Final win over the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, in which he played against his brother Mark and earned himself five-minutes in the sin-bin for tackling Steve Mortimer without the ball.

Bugden was selected to represent New South Wales for games I and III of the 1983 State of Origin series.