Catchin’ Up With Craig Teevan

Big League

March 12, 2026

An Australian Schoolboys halfback who had stints with the Broncos, Sharks and Sea Eagles, Craig Teevan’s biggest highlights were as a Crushers No.9 mainstay – and a member of Queensland’s 1995 State of Origin fairytale.

Craig, I understand you’re heavily involved in the International Legends of League matches – most recently staging a game in Innisfail last month?

I actually used to play in them as well, but I tore my pec in a game up at Alice Springs, so I thought that was enough. We had five and a half thousand people there [in Innisfail] and Billy Slater came back, it was great.

Can you tell us about the company you’re the founder and managing director for, Sports AI?

My business partner runs a company called Mining Skills and Motion Curve, and they deal a lot in the extended reality space. I wanted to use that and incorporate fan engagement. Long story short, from team environments – in the gym, the changerooms at training, on the bus – is uploaded to a database and then streamed to either a phone, a tablet or the best result is [fans] using the wearables. It’s virtual reality, so you feel like you’re in the gym with the players or in the dressing room for the team song.

We were invited by the NRL to exhibit at the fan first showcase in Vegas and we’re currently recording it with PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Australia. It’s a massive thing for fan engagement, you actually get a chance to control what you watch.

Born in Roma and growing up in Oakey – how did you become a Broncos original?

I was one year out of school, I was doing university in Toowoomba, my first year of teaching. I played in the Toowoomba comp and was recruited by Wayne Bennett with my brother (Rohan) to be at the Broncos in ’88. The year before I was in the Australian Schoolboys, so I was probably on the radar a little bit.

To go to the very first preseason camp and you’re rubbing shoulders with Wally Lewis and Gene Miles and Greg Dowling – I used to have posters of those guys all over the wall at home. I made my debut that year, so being from a small town of 3,000 into playing with those guys was a massive boost.

With Wally Lewis and Allan Langer there, then Kevin Walters arriving, regular top-grade footy was hard to come by though?

Yeah, definitely. We won the reserve grand final in 1990, I had a pretty decent final series and at the end of the year Wayne just said, ‘Look, you’ve just gotta go for your own development. You’re only going to get a go when these guys are injured’. He knew Ron Massey pretty well and it was the first year of the draft, so he recommended me to the Sharks.

I went down there [in 1991] and played a lot more first grade. I seemed to go to clubs that had established halves. I went to Manly [in 1992] because Geoff Toovey had a shoulder reconstruction in the off-season, he was going to be out for the first eight or 10 weeks. He turned up at training before the first game and says, ‘I’m available’, got picked obviously and never missed a game through injury. I’m 22 at that stage, I wanted to stay in the game, so I asked Wayne if I could come back to the Broncos.

The Crushers had a tumultuous and short existence, but do you look back on those three years with happy memories?

Absolutely. It was my second turn at being a foundation member of a club. While it was a turbulent time – and one year we only got 66 cents in the dollar [from our contracts] – I still maintain that I played my best football there and achieved my best results. I’ve got great memories at the Broncos, but I actually enjoyed my time at the Crushers more than anywhere.

You made a successful move to hooker during the Crushers’ first season – when did the Origin call-up start seeming like a possibility?

It probably didn’t really get serious for until a week out, where it looked like they weren’t going to pick the Super League players. The weekend before the team was picked, we played the Roosters. (Queensland coach) ‘Fatty’ (Vautin) came into the sheds and pulled five of us aside and said, ‘I don’t know what the selectors are going to do on Monday, but if they do go ARL players only, you guys are all in the frame’.

They read the team out on national TV and go through the first few players: Robbie O’Davis, then Danny Moore instead of Steve Renouf. So they’re not picking [Super League] guys, I hope I’m a chance. And then number nine was Wayne Bartrim, I thought maybe not. Then Benny Ikin got called out at 14 and, like everybody then, I didn’t know Ben. Mine was the last name read out and I jumped off the lounge and give the wife a big hug and a kiss … the landline just went crazy. I took about 10 phone calls before I could get a chance to talk to mum and dad.

How did you pull off the greatest of all Origin boilovers?

‘Fatty’ and ‘Choppy’ (manager Chris Close) have got to get a massive wrap along with the leaders, Gary Larson, Billy Moore, Mark Coyne and Trevor Gillmeister. You felt comfortable in the team environment, we were just so relaxed and we immediately gelled. We got on the drink and we were all mates as if we’d known one another for ages. There was a lot of noise that we were going to get pumped, but I never had that in my mindset. I always thought that we could win it.

After the Crushers were axed, you joined the similarly ill-fated Chargers…

I stayed in Brisbane when I was playing at the Gold Coast. It kept me in the game but I’ve got to admit I didn’t really enjoy my football that much down there. I don’t think I got dropped and never played reserve grade, but I was starting and then on the bench and never really got into a groove.

Was the plan to keep playing with the Chargers had they not folded?

When the Crushers finished, I’d just built a house and I only took possession of the keys about three or four days before their last game. I had a two-year-old and a newborn, so I didn’t want to go to Sydney. I didn’t want to go overseas. The Chargers was the logical option to stay in the game and if they were around for another two or three years and they were happy to keep signing me, I would’ve kept doing it.

One of the guys on the board at the Chargers said there was an opportunity at Ipwsich Jets to be CEO, but they needed me to play and be CEO. I thought it was a way to stay in rugby league and get into rugby league administration.

Playing and being the CEO of a club – while still in your twenties – is a unique situation…

A lot of the players used to joke, ‘How did you negotiate with yourself?’ That was always done by the board, but yeah, it was very unique. I was doing commentary with 2GB as well. The plan was always sports admin and trying to be CEO of an NRL club, but the few positions that came were going to News Limited executives and [people] like that. I thought maybe I’m not in the picture.

I was missing my kids’ rugby league carnivals and if I kept doing the [Jets] job, I’m going to probably be in the same place in eight years’ time and the kids are going to be 18, so I moved into property development.

DATE OF BIRTH

7 January, 1970

CURRENT AGE

BIRTHPLACE

Roma, Queensland

POSITIONS

Halfback, hooker

PLAYING HISTORY

1988-90, 1993: Brisbane Broncos

1991: Cronulla Sharks

1992: Manly Sea Eagles

1995-97: South Queensland Crushers