One of the game's finest ever centres, Steve Renouf knocked up scoring tries for the Broncos, Maroons and Australia.
As part of Big League's 'Catching Up With' series in 2025, we sat down with Renouf to reflect on a dazzling career.
From growing up as one of 12 in a small town in Queensland to winning premierships and representing his state and country, 'The Pearl' did it all in rugby league but still has one regret!
What are you up to these days, Steve?
Mate, all good on my end. I've got five kids and they're all on their way. The youngest is 22 now. I've been working in Indigenous health for a while. We've been running the Deadly Choices program going on 14 years or so now and we’re still rolling that out nationally. I’ve also had type-1 diabetes for 32 years, so I do a bit of work for Australian Digital Health and another company called Medtronic. It’s all in the health area and I spend a lot of time trying to improve the outcomes for indigenous Australians, which is something I really enjoy doing.
Tell us about the impact you continue to have with the Deadly Choices program?
We launched Deadly Choices with the Broncos back in 2013. In short, we use sport to try to encourage our mob to make healthy choices for themselves and their families and we know how much our mob love rugby league. We’ve shifted into AFL as well now to reach other parts of the country, but we’ve now got 22 clinics set up in southeast Queensland and we’re about to expand further into NSW, which is something we’re really excited about.
Tell us about your journey from a small town to the Broncos?
I grew up in Murgon (three hours north west of Brisbane) in a family of 12. I’ve got eight sisters and three brothers and we all loved rugby league. I got pretty lucky with my timing. I finished school in 1987 and the Broncos were starting in 1988. So after I made the Queensland U16s, I got noticed by the Broncos and ended up signing a three-year contract while I was still in school.
How exciting was it to be around the Broncos in those early days?
It was unreal. That first year in ’88, then to win our first grand final in ’92. It all happened pretty quickly and I was lucky enough to play in another three grand finals after that.
