Samuel Arthur Thaiday (; born 12 June 1985) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played for the Brisbane Broncos in the National Rugby League, serving as their captain from 2012 until 2013. An Australian international and Queensland State of Origin representative second-row, he could also play prop and lock as well as hooker and spent all of his career at the Broncos, with whom he won the 2006 premiership. In 2008, Australia's centenary of rugby league and Thaiday's sixth year at the top level, he was one of only three current players to be named in the Indigenous Australian rugby league team of the century. On 6 July 2018, Thaiday announced his intention to retire from the NRL at the end of the 2018 season.
He currently plays for the Samford Stags in the Brisbane open men’s division 2 competition.
Thaiday was born in Sydney, New South Wales and moved to Townsville, Queensland at the age of four years. He is of Torres Strait Islander descent. He played junior rugby league for the Brothers club in Townsville as well as attending Kirwan State High School. His cousin Milton Thaiday also became an NRL footballer.
Thaiday then moved to Brisbane to complete a degree in medicine and resided at St Leo's College. He graduated with a GPA of 6.75 and was part of the Leo's executive team with the renowned title, 'Shed'.
Thaiday's father, Billy, was born on Yam Island in the Torres Strait and was working on Thursday Island, before becoming part of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). He signed up for RAAF, when needed the RAAF needed men and women from the Torres Strait Islands to serve in mainland Australia. His mother, Julie Thaiday, grew up in rural Western Australia and also served in the Royal Australian Air Force.
Thaiday was signed in 2002 by the Brisbane Broncos after coach Wayne Bennett watched him brawl with Sonny Bill Williams and Tom Learoyd-Lahrs in an under-17s interstate game. On 11 July 2003, aged 18, he made his National Rugby League debut for the Broncos against the Bulldogs in round 18 of the 2003 NRL season. It was to be his only appearance of the season. He followed it up with 8 appearances off the bench in the 2004 NRL season, before featuring in 14 matches in the 2005 NRL season. He started for the first time in his career in Round 2 of that season, however, played the other 13 matches off the bench. Thaiday scored his first career try in Round 26 of 2005 against the Parramatta Eels.
Solid form in the first 10 weeks of the Broncos season earned Thaiday a spot on the Queensland bench for game one of the 2006 State of Origin series. He was also selected on the bench for the following two games for the Maroons, who went on to win the series. After that, when the Broncos were in the "slump that wasn't a slump", coach Wayne Bennett moved Thaiday from the bench to the starting side. This, among other changes, saw the Broncos' season turn around, and they ended up winning the 2006 NRL Grand Final. Thaiday was selected for his international debut for the Australian national team in Game 2 of the 2006 Tri-Nations against New Zealand after concussion ruled Willie Mason out. He would also feature against Great Britain 2 weeks later, however did not play in Australia's victory in the Final.
As 2006 NRL Premiers, the Brisbane Broncos travelled to England to face 2006 Super League champions, St Helens R.F.C. in the 2007 World Club Challenge. Thaiday played from the interchange bench in the Broncos' 14–18 loss. In the 2007 NRL season Thaiday suffered an injury to the bone around his eye socket and missed all three games of the 2007 State of Origin series for the Queensland Maroons while waiting to recover. In a Round 2 match against the New Zealand Warriors, with regular goal kickers Darren Lockyer and Corey Parker missing from the side, Thaiday stepped up to take 2 conversion attempts, making 1 of them. Thaiday struggled to find a place in the Broncos side in 2007, bouncing from between the bench and the starting back row while also lining up at lock and five-eighth. He made his 50th first-grade appearance in the NRL in 2007 and re-signed with the Broncos until the end of 2009. Due to his indifferent form, he failed to be selected for either of Australia's two test matches in 2007.
In the 2008 NRL season Thaiday was back in form and started the year with a bang, winning back to back man of the match awards in rounds eight and nine to earn himself a starting spot in the 2008 State of Origin series. After scoring only 4 tries in his previous 5 seasons, he bagged 8 in 2008, including an impressive haul of 5 in 4 games between Round 18 and Round 21. It would be the most tries scored in a season across his career.
He was named in the Australia training squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup, however did not make the final squad.
In April 2009, Thaiday was named in the 25-man Queensland squad before the opening match of the 2009 State of Origin series. He was named man of the match in the second game of the series.
At club level, Thaiday continued to consistently perform for Brisbane.
At the end of that season, Thaiday played for Australia in its successful 2009 Four Nations campaign in Europe, playing 3 matches off the bench and representing his nation for the first time since 2006.
For the 2010 ANZAC Test, Thaiday was selected to play for Australia at second-row forward and was named man of the match in its victory against New Zealand. During his career, Thaiday was often attacked for how he plays the game, most notably his tendency to enter brawls and scuffles late to "protect" his teammates. In the 2010 State of Origin series Thaiday was much maligned by NSW Blues fans for how he played the game. In Game 2, Luke O'Donnell performed a dangerous tackle that sparked an all-in brawl, the likes of which hadn't been seen for several years. Most notable was a moment towards the end of the melee in which O'Donnell could be seen to headbutt and then uppercut Queensland's Dave Taylor, after which Thaiday re-entered the fray and punched O'Donnell twice. Speaking on his involvement Thaiday said, "I saw the headbutt and I made a bee-line straight over to it. That's just not football; fair is fair if you want to punch on with a bloke I'm all for that. But headbutting – that's a bit below the belt". In a 2010 NRL game, between the Broncos and the North Queensland Cowboys, Thaiday again came under criticism, again for entering a fight as the "Third-man-in" (though technically he was fourth). The NRL match review committee chairman Greg McCallum issued Thaiday a warning for his repeat infringements and threatened him with a ban. McCallum said that Thaiday was treading a fine line rushing in to "protect" teammates he felt had been aggrieved. Thaiday continued his consistent performances for Brisbane, cementing his place as a starter in the side. Thaiday scored his first Origin try in Game 1, proving the difference in their 28–24 victory. Queensland would go on to win the series 3–0, the first series sweep since 2000. Thaiday also featured in all 5 of Australia's test matches, all as a starter. Thaiday also featured in the inaugural All-Stars match before the start of the season, lining up for the Indigenous All Stars in their 16–12 victory.
In 2011 it was announced that Thaiday would be the Broncos' captain for the following season, taking over from the retiring Darren Lockyer despite the return to the club of former Broncos favourite Petero Civoniceva. An experiment with starting Thaiday at prop was abandoned by Round 8, with him returning to the back row for the rest of the season. Thaiday missed the Broncos first two finals matches through suspension, however, returned to captain the Broncos in Lockyer's absence in the Preliminary Final against the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, leading his side to a gallant 26–14 defeat in his first NRL match as captain. Thaiday once again featured in all 3 matches in the State of Origin. After the 2011 NRL season, Thaiday travelled with the Australian national team to Britain for the 2011 Four Nations tournament, appearing in all 4 matches in the tournament to take his season test tally to 6. In the Final against England, Thaiday scored his first international try. On 3 November 2011 The annual RLIF Awards dinner was held at the Tower of London and Thaiday was named second-row forward of the year.