Yileen "Buddy" Gordon (also known as Yilleen Gordon) (born 3 April 1987) is an Australian rugby league footballer who plays for the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the NSW Cup. Gordon formerly played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and Penrith Panthers. He was sacked by the West Tigers in February, 2014 for breach of contract. He currently plays in the Centres and has previously played in the back-row or at centre.

Yileen Gordon
Personal information
Born (1987-04-03) 3 April 1987 (age 37)
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Height6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight16 st 6 lb (106 kg)
Playing information
PositionProp, Second-row, Centre
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2005–08 South Sydney 34 11 0 0 44
2009–10 Canterbury Bulldogs 34 0 0 0 0
2011 Penrith Panthers 3 0 0 0 0
Total 71 11 0 0 44
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2008–10 Indigenous All Stars 2 1 0 0 4
Source: [1][2]

Playing career

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Yileen Gordon started his career at the South Sydney Rabbitohs in 2005. He made his debut for the South Sydney Rabbitohs against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in round 13 of the 2005 NRL season, Gordon spent most of his time when not playing for Souths with the North Sydney Bears Souths feeder side in the Intrust Super Premiership NSW. Gordon played for Norths in their 2007 Intrust Super Premiership NSW grand final loss to Parramatta where he scored a try in the first half of the match.[3]

Gordon made a total of 31 appearances for Norths and scored 17 tries.[4] In 2008 he signed with the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, the team he played against in his debut. Gordon signed with the Penrith Panthers for the 2011 season, and his Penrith debut was a 26 - 18 loss against the New Zealand Warriors in round 8.[citation needed]

Gordon played the majority of the 2011 season for the Panthers' NSW Cup feeder club, the Windsor Wolves.[citation needed]

Post NRL

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After being released by Penrith, he spent 2012 playing for Moore Park in the South Sydney local league and was working at the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence, where he was part of the healthy lifestyle team and delivered anti-smoking workshops as well as educating Indigenous youth and the wider community on cost effective, healthier meal choices.[citation needed]

In 2013 he was signed to Newtown Jets, the feeder club for the Sydney Roosters, in the NSWRL competition.[citation needed]

In November, 2014 Gordon was signed to a one-year secondary tier contract with the West Tigers, but was sacked by the club before making an appearance. The club refused to reveal the reason behind the sacking, but said the termination of his contract was for "a breach of his playing terms and conditions".[5]

He spent the 2014 season with Thirlmere before joining the Wyong Roos for 2015. Gordon scored two tries in his debut for the Wyong Roos.[6]

Gordon's most significant achievements were representing the Indigenous team in the inaugural Indigenous All Stars Match in 2010[7] and scoring the winning try in the Indigenous Dreamtime vs. New Zealand Maori game in 2008.[8]

On 16 February 2017, Gordon was announced as one of the squad players for the Mount Pritchard Mounties in the NSW Cup.[9]

In 2018, Gordon joined Intrust Super Premiership NSW side Wentworthville.[10]

At the end of 2018, Gordon was released by Wentworthville. On 7 March 2019, it was revealed that Gordon had signed with one of his former clubs South Sydney and played for the Souths reserve grade side during the 2019 season.[11] On 24 September 2023, Gordon played for South Sydney in their 2023 NSW Cup grand final victory over North Sydney.[12]

On 30 August, Gordon would play in his final match for the Rabbitohs in their 32-28 loss to the Panthers in NSW cup. The Rabbitohs would confirm Gordon's retirement at the end of the match.[13][14]

Gordon works as the program mentor for Souths Cares program run by the Souths team.[15]

References

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  1. ^ NRL Stats[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ "Yileen Gordon - Career Stats & Summary - Rugby League Project". www.rugbyleagueproject.org. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  3. ^ "Eels break Peachey's heart". Herald Sun.
  4. ^ "South Sydney Rabbitohs North Sydney Bears Affiliated Players". www.ssralmanac.com. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  5. ^ "NRL Wests Tigers sack Yileen Gordon for "a breach of his playing terms and conditions"". The Daily Telegraph. 4 February 2014. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  6. ^ NSWRL, 2015
  7. ^ Creative Spirits, 2010
  8. ^ Z Zimbio 2008
  9. ^ "2017 SQUAD | Mounties - NSWRL". Archived from the original on 24 June 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  10. ^ "Official Intrust Super Premiership profile of Yileen Gordon for Wentworthville Magpies". New South Wales Rugby League. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  11. ^ "South Sydney tap into fans' nostalgia with return to spiritual home". www.nswrl.com.au. 7 March 2019.
  12. ^ "Taaffe's statement as Souths end 40-year drought; veteran's captain's knock: Reserves Wrap". www.foxsports.com.au. 25 September 2023.
  13. ^ Writer, Staff. "Panthers v Rabbitohs round 26". New South Wales Rugby League. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
  14. ^ Chalk, Ethan Lee (1 September 2024). "Former NRL utility announces rugby league retirement". Zero Tackle. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
  15. ^ Staff, Writer (13 February 2024). "Our People: Souths Cares". rabbitohs.com.au. Retrieved 31 August 2024.
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