Born: May 31, 1989 – Sydney
Test record: 2 Tests (2007) – 2 tries (8 points)
Tours: 2007 tour of Britain and France

Versatile back Chase Stanley’s NRL and Super League career spanned 14 seasons, but a succession of injury setbacks contributed to a Kiwis tenure that was restricted to just two Tests as an 18-year-old rookie.

Born in Sydney, Stanley came from impressive sporting stock. His mother’s grand-uncles were 1930s Kiwis Rangi and Tommy Chase, while he is the nephew of 1980s and ’90s All Blacks great Joe Stanley.

The Hurstville United junior was only 17 when he made his NRL debut for St George Illawarra early in the 2007 season, impressing enough in 18 games as a centre or winger to get a Kiwis call-up for their post-season program.

Stanley came of the bench for the All Golds in their commemorative exhibition match against Northern Union, before scoring two tries on Test debut as a winger in New Zealand’s 28-22 loss to Great Britain in the third Test at Wigan.

He was retained for the subsequent one-off Test win against France.

The strapping, silky three-quarter’s wretched run with injury began in 2008, though he did feature in New Zealand Māori’s clash with the Indigenous team in the World Cup curtain-raiser.

But he played just eight games during a 2010-11 stint with Melbourne Storm. Returning to the Dragons in 2012, Stanley enjoyed a season and a half relatively injury-free and produced some good football at centre and five-eighth. However, he managed only 29 NRL appearances for Canterbury Bulldogs from 2014-17.

Stanley joined the Toronto Wolfpack in 2018, helping the Canadian club’s remarkable climb from the UK Second Division to Super League, which came to an abrupt halt in early-2020 due to the worldwide outbreak of COVID-19.