page_title: Sam Thaiday
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Sam Thaiday / Background
caption_attribution_description: Sam Thaiday of the Brisbane Broncos RLFC
context_page_description: Samuel Arthur Thaiday is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played for the Brisbane Broncos in the National Rugby League, serving as their captain from 2012 until 2013. An Australian international and Queensland State of Origin representative second-row, he can also play prop and lock as well as Hooker and has spent all of his career at the Broncos, with whom he won the 2006 premiership. In 2008, Australia's centenary of rugby league and Thaiday's sixth year at the top level, he was one of only three current players to be named in the Indigenous Australian rugby league team of the century. On 6 July 2018, Thaiday announced his intention to retire from the NRL at the end of the 2018 season.
context_section_description: Thaiday was born in Sydney, New South Wales and moved to Townsville, Queensland at the age of four years. He is of Torres Strait Islander descent. He played junior rugby league for the Brothers club in Townsville as well as attending Kirwan State High School. His cousin Milton Thaiday also became an NRL footballer. 
  Thaiday's father, Billy, was born on Yam Island in the Torres Strait and was working on Thursday Island, before becoming part of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). He signed up for RAAF, when needed the RAAF needed men and women from the Torres Strait Islands to serve in mainland Australia. His mother, Julie Thaiday, grew up in rural Western Australia and also served in the Royal Australian Air Force.
  Thaiday was questioned by police in 2009 relating to an alleged sexual assault in a Brisbane nightclub.
caption: Thaiday playing for the Broncos in 2009
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