David Penna

For the American jockey, see Dave Penna.

David Penna (born 25 July 1972) is an Australian rugby league coach and former footballer who played for the Parramatta Eels and the South Sydney Rabbitohs during his long professional career.

David Penna

Personal information
Full name	David Penna
Born	(1972-07-25) 25 July 1972 (age 50)
Playing information
Height	180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	84 kg (13 st 3 lb)
Position	Fullback, Centre, Five-eighth, Halfback
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1990–93 Parramatta Eels 22 2 0 0 8 1994–97 South Sydney 56 19 0 0 76 1998–00 Parramatta Eels 56 11 0 3 47 Total 134 32 0 3 131
Coaching information
Representative Years Team Gms W D L W% 2009 Italy 0 0 0 0
Source: ^[1]

Penna is the current assistant coach of the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs.

Playing career

Penna made his debut for Parramatta in 1990. He played 22 games over four seasons, often at centre or five-eighth.^[2]

In 1994 he moved to join the South Sydney Rabbitohs and played 56 games for the club over four seasons, usually at centre or fullback. Penna played for Souths in their upset 1994 Tooheys Challenge Cup final victory over Brisbane.^[3]

In 1998, Penna returned to Parramatta where he was usually used at five-eighth before moving into the halfback position in 1999. In 2000, Penna was forced to retire after breaking his neck twice and suffering six concussions in the single season.^[4]

Coaching career

Penna turned his attention to coaching. In 2009 he coached an Italian XIII. Penna has also coached the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles Toyota Cup (Under-20s) team.^[5][6] Penna was appointed as Manly's assistant NRL coach for the 2012 season, after Geoff Toovey was promoted to the position of head coach.^[7]

On 30 November 2016, he became the assistant coach to Des Hasler at the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs.^[8]

In November 2018, he was announced as the new head coach of Canterbury's Jersey Flegg Cup side.^[9]

References

1. RLP
2. "Official Player Numbers". Parramatta Eels.
3. "The Giant Killers". www.rabbitohs.com.au.
4. Penna s career in serious doubt after second neck break AAP Sports News, 24 July 2000^{[dead link]}
5. Rookie's an Oldie, but a goodie The Manly Daily, 13 October 2010 25 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine
6. Italian XIII 34 - 10 Malta XIII Malta Rugby League, 11 October 2009
7. Proszenko, Adrian (20 November 2011). "Penna revels in return to big time". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
8. "David Penna joins the Bulldogs". www.bulldogs.com.au.
9. "Georgallis promoted in Bulldogs revamp". www.nrl.com.

Sporting positions
Preceded by David Riolo 2003-2006	Coach   Italy 2009	Succeeded by Tiziano Franchini 2009

External links

• David Penna rugbyleague.co.nz