The Newtown Jets say farewell and thank you to a superb player and popular club identity, Billy Magoulias

Billy Magoulias, very much a Henson Park crowd favourite of recent years, has announced his retirement from rugby league.

Billy played junior league with the Mascot Jets in the Souths Juniors competitions and with Cronulla-Caringbah in the Cronulla Sharks junior system.

He began his senior rugby league career with the Newtown Jets in the Intrust Super NSW Cup competition in 2018, where he played 26 games as a five-eighth and lock, including Newtown’s narrow grand final defeat to Canterbury-Bankstown in that same year.

In 2019 he made his NRL debut with Newtown’s NRL partnership club the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, playing two games against the North Queensland Cowboys and St George-Illawarra.

He became the toast of the Inner West in the 2019 Canterbury Cup (the NSW Cup) finals, setting up the winning try in the grand final against Wentworthville at Bankwest Stadium, Parramatta (now CommBank Stadium) in extra time. His perfectly-placed chip kick that was gathered in by Jets winger Tyrone Phillips, who passed the ball inside to fullback Will Kennedy for the winning try, has become the stuff of legend.

Quite remarkably, Billy repeated that match-winning kick one week later in the last minute of play in the NRL State Championship Final against Burleigh Bears at ANZ Stadium (now Accor Stadium). His precisely-flighted chip kick bounced perfectly into the arms of centre Jackson Ferris who raced 40 metres to score under the posts. This State Championship final was televised nationwide and Billy’s last-minute chip kick became part of rugby league folklore.

COVID-19 drastically shortened both the 2020 and 2021 seasons for Newtown but Billy played NRL with the Cronulla Sharks in both of those seasons, including 11 appearances with the Sharks in 2021.

Billy joined the UK Super League club Warrington for the 2022 season, but a recurring ankle injury shortened his stay in the English rugby league.

He represented Greece in the 2022 Rugby League World Cup tournament which was held in England. In Greece’s match against France in Doncaster, Billy set up a try with a chip kick very similar to those he deployed with such success in 2019.

He rejoined Newtown for the latter part of the 2022 season and played with the club for both the 2023 and 2024 seasons. In 2024 Billy played a major role in Newtown’s Knock-On Effect NSW Cup grand final victory over North Sydney, with one of his trademark flat, short passes setting up a critical try for the Jets.

Injury has limited his appearances in 2025 and Billy has decided to retire from the game. He has been the touchstone for success for the Newtown Jets between the years 2018 and 2025, and he will be greatly missed by the army of Henson Park regulars.

The Newtown RLFC community extends thanks to Billy Magoulias for his outstanding performances with our club, and we extend best wishes to him and his family for the future.