Freeman was born in
Auckland, New Zealand, on 4 December 1962. He played
rugby league as a
Bay Roskill Vikings junior.
Playing career 1980s In 1982, Freeman was graded by the
Northcote Tigers as a nineteen-year-old in the
Auckland Rugby League competition and played there for most of the 1980s, gaining representative selection for the
Auckland rugby league team. He also played in England for
Kent Invicta at the start of the
1983-84 season. Freeman also spent a season playing for English club
Castleford. He was selected to go on the
1986 New Zealand rugby league tour of Australia and Papua New Guinea and made his debut for the Kiwis at halfback in the second Test against
Australia. He was retained for the third Test against Australia and for both Tests against
Papua New Guinea. Freeman moved to Australia to play for Sydney club
Balmain Tigers in the
1988 NSWRL season. During the mid-season
1988 Great Britain Lions tour, Freeman played from the bench for New Zealand in the sole Test match in Christchurch, scoring two tries that helped the Kiwis to a victory that booked their place in the final of the
1985–1988 Rugby League World Cup. Before that, however, Freeman was selected to play at halfback for the Balmain Tigers in the 1988 NSWRL Grand Final. He played for New Zealand in the halves at the
1988 World Cup final which was lost to Australia. Freeman played in all three Tests of the
1989 Kangaroo tour of New Zealand. Later that year, he made it two consecutive Grand Finals when he again played at halfback for Balmain in the
1989 NSWRL season's Premiership decider.
1990s In all three Tests of the
1990 Great Britain Lions tour, Freeman was selected to play at halfback for the Kiwis. He was selected to captain New Zealand at halfback for the
1991 Trans-Tasman Test series in Australia. Freeman commenced playing for
Eastern Suburbs Roosters for the
1992 NSWRL season. During the
1992 Great Britain Lions tour of Australasia, Freeman captained New Zealand from halfback in both Test matches, being named man-of-the-match in the first and scoring a try in the second. At the end of the
1992 NSWRL season, Freeman was awarded the
Dally M Medal as the competition's player of the year for his performance as Eastern Suburbs' halfback. Nicknamed "Whiz", He later became a rugby league commentator. At the end of the
1997 Super League season, Freeman provided commentary for the Grand Final. He did the same for the
1998 Anzac Test.
Coaching career At the close of the
2000 World Cup, in which New Zealand lost the tournament final to Australia, Freeman was selected to replace
Frank Endacott as Kiwis coach. Under Freeman in 2001, New Zealand played a one-off Test match against France and defeated them 36–0 at Ericsson Stadium. The Kiwis then played Australia at the new Westpac Stadium in Wellington and lost 28–10. Freeman was also coach for the
2002 New Zealand rugby league tour of Great Britain and France, although it was to be his last in charge of the national team. In 2003,
Daniel Anderson was named as the new Kiwis coach. Freeman later became coach of the New South Wales "Young Achievers" team.
Later years In 2007, Freeman was inducted as one of the
NZRL's Legends of League. He is also an
Auckland Rugby League Immortal. Freeman further worked as the co-host of
Fox Sports' NRL coverage and panel member of
NRL on FOX until 2011. ==References==