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Marcus Bai (born November 10 , 1972 ) is a Papua New Guinean Rugby League player. Primarily a Winger , he is currently contracted to English Super League team Bradford Bulls . PLAYING CAREER Astonishingly Marcus Bai never played junior rugby league at any level. A Papua New Guinea international, he has represented his country on numerous occasions including at the 1995 Rugby League World Cup . He began his career playing for the Port Moresby Vipers in Australia. Although he began his professional career playing for Hull FC in England where he made eight appearances for them in 1997 before moving to the Gold Coast Chargers in Australia. He played the final 18 games of the season scoring 5 tries. That year he was selected to play for the Rest of the World side to play a match against an ARL test side. Although his spell for the Gold Coast was a brief one, it allowed Bai to make a name for himself, while in the process prompting Melbourne Storm to sign him in 1998 in their inaugural season. He was named Dally M Winger of the Year in his first year at the Melbourne Storm. In his second season for Melbourne, he was part of the 1999 National Rugby League winning side in which he played in every game. In 2000 Marcus Bai again represented his country this time at the 2000 Rugby League World Cup playing in all four of his countries games and scoring three tries. That year for the Storm, Bai was hampered by injuries, including being cut on his right arm by the steel advertising boards. In all he spent six years playing for the Melbourne Storm, making over 150 first grade games and scoring a total of 70 tries. After displaying his ability with some impressive performances for Melbourne Storm, Bai transferred to English Super League club the Leeds Rhinos . His debut for the club was against Castleford Tigers on the Boxing Day Festive Challenge during which he scored a try after coming off the bench. His full first team debut came against the London Broncos on the opening day of the 2004 Super League season. He announced his arrival at the club in the best possible fashion, by scoring a hat-trick on his full debut in front of the Leeds Rhinos home crowd. Marcus Bai had become an instant hit with the Leeds fans. Later that year in his first full season for Leeds, Marcus Bai scored a hat-trick in the grand final eliminator which helped Leeds on their way to booking their place at Old Trafford . In 2005 , Bai was again impressive making 32 appearances and scoring 19 tries in all competitions. In all he spent two full seasons with Leeds making 63 appearances and scoring 45 tries including four hat-tricks. He is currently just one of seven players to win a Grand Final in the premier Rugby League competitions in both England and Australia . He helped Leeds to their 2004 Grand Final success against the Bradford Bulls and was also in the Leeds side that lost a year later in the Grand Final ironically to the Bradford Bulls. Marcus Bai left the Leeds Rhinos after spending two successful years with them. He penned a contract with the Bradford Bulls for the 2006 Super League season. Marcus Bai got his Bradford Bulls career off to a good start scoring two tries on his debut in Bradford's World Club Challenge match against the Wests Tigers in which they won 30-10. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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