About Peter Jackson (rugby league)
Peter Jackson was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. Nicknamed 'Jacko', he was an Australia national and Queensland State of Origin representative centre or five-eighth. Jackson played club football in the Brisbane Rugby League for the Souths Magpies, before moving to the New South Wales Rugby League and playing for the Canberra Raiders, Brisbane Broncos and North Sydney Bears. He also played in the Rugby Football League for English club Leeds. Jackson worked in the media following his retirement in 1993, and died as the result of a drug overdose in 1997. Since 2003, the Peter Jackson Memorial Trophy has been awarded to the person, whether a player or member of the support staff, who makes the greatest contribution to the Queensland State of Origin team each year. The 1988 season saw Jackson achieve international selection for the first time in Australia's successful home defence of The Ashes during the 1988 Great Britain Lions tour. In the Centenary Test in 1988, the first match of the three-Test series at the Sydney Football Stadium, Jackson scored two tries, contributing to Australia's 17–6 win. His international return quickly turned sour, though, as he was sent off midway through the first half of the game, which Australia's new-look team won 44–0.
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