Greg Alexander

From halfback, Alexander took control of the game in the 2nd half with his kicking game which included a 38-metre field goal to give Penrith a 13–12 lead following a Brad Izzard try under the posts which were converted by Alexander.

Later a majestic sideline conversion of Royce Simmons' 2nd try of the game sealed the win for the Panthers.

Gregory Peter Stephen Alexander (born 4 March 1965), also known by the nickname of "Brandy", is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s, who has since become a radio, television commentator and rugby league journalist.

Originally a goal-kicking half-back, in his career he played for and captained the Penrith Panthers and the Auckland Warriors clubs and also represented his country and state on several occasions.

Alexander's position for the majority of his career was at half-back, however early in his career – particularly in representative sides – he was moved to.

He attended St. Dominic's College, Penrith until year 11 (1981) then went on to complete year 11 (again) and year 12 at Patrician Brothers' College, Fairfield he played for the Australian Schoolboys rugby league team in 1983.

He was later signed on as a junior to his local club side the Penrith Panthers.

Alexander made his first-grade debut for the Panthers in the 1984 season as a half-back.

His talent quickly became clear and by the end of the season he took out the Rookie of the Year award.

Penrith's form saw them reach the finals for the first time since his rookie year in 1984, reaching the knockout Minor Semi-Final before ending their season with a 27–18 loss to Canberra.

The following year Greg continued his good form throughout the season tallying up 194 points (a club record at the time) and earning himself the 1985 Dally M. player of the year award.

Greg continued playing with the Panthers for the next several years and become known for his unique ability to score and set up tries, his excellent attacking kicking and his solid defence.

It was this ability to play different positions with great success that saw Alexander make both the 1986 and the 1990 Kangaroo Tours.

At the end of the 1986 NSWRL season, he went on the 1986 Kangaroo tour, gaining selection after Parramatta winger Eric Grothe was controversially ruled out with a knee injury.

Alexander would go on to play in 10 matches on tour with the Kangaroos, scoring 10 tries and kicking 5 goals.

Alexander and test hooker Royce Simmons became the first Panthers selected for a Kangaroo Tour.

At the end of the season he was selected for his second Kangaroo Tour as the back up fullback to Canberra and Queensland custodian Gary Belcher and went on to be selected for every game on tour, although unlike Terry Lamb who played in every game on the 1986 tour, Alexander, along with the Kangaroos' other replacements that day (David Gillespie, Des Hasler and Mark Sargent), did not get off the bench in the 14–10 second test win against Great Britain at Old Trafford that kept The Ashes series alive.

He also failed to get off the bench in the third game of the tour against Wigan.

Alexander was the leading point scorer for the Kangaroos on tour, playing 17 games (4 tests but selected for all 5 tests), scoring 14 tries and kicking 50 goals for a total of 156 points.

The closest a teammate got in points was team captain Mal Meninga who scored 64 points (8 tries, 16 goals) from his 11 games.

He scored a record 46 points in the tour match against France B (5 tries, 13 goals) in Lyon and continued that form into the first test against France 3 days later in Avignon when after coming on to replace an ill Ricky Stuart at halfback early in the game he went on to score 3 tries and kick 7/8 goals in the Kangaroos 60–4 win giving him a personal haul of 28 points.

In the 34–10 second test win a week later at the Stade Gilbert Brutus in Perpignan, a hamstring injury ruled out Laurie Daley.

This saw Dale Shearer move from the wing to the centres and Brandy was selected on the wing where he kicked 3 goals to go along with his memorable try which resulted in his gymnastics style backflip celebration.

He had performed the backflip several times at training while in England (claiming it was something he had learned in gymnastics while still in school) and had wanted to do it after scoring a try in a game, but with Australia, in a battle to retain The Ashes, he felt the circumstances were never right.

However, as the second test against the French was also the final game of the Kangaroo tour, he allowed himself the luxury of the backflip in front of the TV cameras.

After making his test debut in the 26-6 first test win against New Zealand at the Queen Elizabeth II Park in Christchurch, and playing in the 8-0 second test win at Rotorua, Alexander lost his place in the side with coach Bob Fulton preferring his 1987 premiership winning halfback from Manly-Warringah, Des Hasler, in the position for the third and final test.

1989 saw him rise to selection for New South Wales in the 1989 State of Origin series, being one of the few Blues players regarded as playing well in a series won 3-0 by Queensland, before being selected as the first choice halfback for Australia's mid-season tour of New Zealand.

During the 1989 NSWRL season, his pace and skill had made Penrith the second most dangerous attacking team in the competition behind the eventual premiers, the Canberra Raiders and Alexander was the Panthers leading try and point scorer and for much of the year led the league in try-scoring – scoring ten tries in eight games at one point, eventually finishing with 15 tries from 18 games for the season.

Alexander would eventually finish second on the try-scoring list finishing behind Canberra fullback Gary Belcher who scored 17 tries.

Alexander finished ahead of other noted try scorers including Andrew Ettingshausen (Cronulla), Ricky Walford (St George) and Phil Blake (South Sydney).

Alexander played a test on the 1990 Tour against France on the, scoring a try and capping it off with a memorable gymnastics style backflip in celebration.

This was also his last test appearance.

Greg suffers from Duypetrens Contracture, in March 2023 he had his little finger of his right hand amputated.

Alexander began his career at a schoolboy level where he quickly established himself as a star player for his side.

With Alexander in great form at both halfback and fullback for the Panthers, the club made it to their first ever Grand Final in 1990 against the defending premiers Canberra.

The Panthers went down 18–14 to the Raiders and despite a solid performance, Alexander's goalkicking let him down on the day, only kicking one of his four attempts compared to Canberra captain Mal Meninga who landed all three of his attempts.

Despite his good form, Alexander was only selected to the bench for game 3 of the 1990 State of Origin series and missed selection in Australia's mid-season tests against France and New Zealand.

Alexander captained the Panthers to their maiden premiership in 1991, the Panthers reversing the result of the 1990 Grand Final with a 19–12 win over Canberra.

The Phil Gould coached Panthers never fell below 4th on the ladder for the season (Round 2) and never lost the competition lead after regaining it following Round 14 of the 22 round season.

From Round 14 the Panthers only loss of the season was a 14–12 away loss to Cronulla-Sutherland in Round 20.