Brendan Cannon
Brendan Cannon
Wallabies Legend
Brendan Cannon played 42 Tests for the Wallabies and 118 games of Super Rugby for the QLD Reds and the NSW Waratahs. Key highlights include making his debut against the British & Irish Lions and recording a famous victory to claim the Wallabies first ever Lions Series victory. Brendan was also an integral member of the Wallabies team that loss to England in golden point in the 2003 Rugby World Cup Final in Sydney.
Brendon during his playing days was described a “battered warhorse”. The greatest irony of the hooker’s reputation as a battered warhorse is that none of his significant injuries came while playing on the field. Instead, a near-fatal car accident when he was just 20 was the cause of his ill health. When Brendan Cannon’s Ford Festiva was forced into the path of a semi-trailer, he was left with about 50 stitches in a jagged wound from his forehead through his right eyelid, a fractured hip socket, a badly lacerated elbow and ruptured knee ligaments.
When the film Gladiator hit the screens, Brendan’s team mates immediately christened him Maximus – so closely did they think the then Wallaby hooker resembled its star Russell Crowe.
Since his retirement, Brandan has been appointed as Development Manager for property funds management and development Charter Hall. He has also become a spokesman for Australia’s three footy codes as they put their weight behind White Ribbon Day in the campaign to stop violence against women.