Mike Dorreen


Michael Thomas Dorreen is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. He played at representative level New Zealand and Canterbury, and at club level for Addington, Hawkes Bay, Auckland Warriors, Sydney Tigers and Hunter Mariners, as a.

New Zealand

Dorreen played for the dominating Canterbury provincial side of the early 1990s alongside Quentin Pongia, Logan Edwards, Whetu Taewa and coach Frank Endacott. In 1994 he switched regions and joined the Hawkes Bay Unicorns for the inaugural Lion Red Cup. He also made the New Zealand Residents side in 1994 and played two games for the New Zealand national rugby league team.

Australian Competition

In 1995 he joined the new Auckland Warriors franchise in the Australian Rugby League. He played fourteen matches for the new club but was not re-signed for 1996. In 1996 he made the move to Sydney to play for the Sydney Tigers. He then finished his professional career with the Hunter Mariners in the Super League competition. He played for Orange in 1998.
He returned to New Zealand in 1999, playing for Halswell and Canterbury.

Coaching career

In 2007 he was to coach the Canterbury under-18 side alongside former teammate Logan Edwards before the competition was canceled by the New Zealand Rugby League. However the pair have continued to be involved in age grade coaching in Canterbury and in 2009 they coached the Canterbury Bulls under-18 side.
In 2010, Dorreen coached the South Island under 17 side in the National Zonal Competition.
In 2012, he was promoted to the head coach of the South Island side. In 2013 the Canterbury Bulls replaced the South Island Scorpions in the National Competition and Dorreen became the Bradford Bulls new head coach.