Penrith junior,
a member of the club's 1987 reserve grade premiers,
found immediate success with Souths in 1990. A
surprise choice as a reserve for the one-off Test
against France at Parkes (having not played State of
Origin) he then won a place on the Kangaroo tour.
Carroll made only six appearances on tour but was
consistently one of Souths' best players in the early
1990s. He moved to Manly in 1994 where his skill as a
tough, attacking forward continued to improve, but
despite being a shadow player for NSW and the
Australian Test team, he failed to make a second
Kangaroo Tour at the end of the year.
Carroll's
international career gained a boost with the Super
League split in 1995 when he gained a belated NSW
jersey. Despite being suspended and missing the State
of Origin match in Melbourne, he was selected for
Australia to play against NZ. A member of Australia's
victorious World Cup team in 1995. His appearances
against NZ. Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Best of the
World teams over the next two years boosted his Test
total to 12 matches. While Carroll obviously enjoyed
playing in a stronger pack at Manly, three
consecutive grand final appearances (1995-97)
garnered just the one premiership success, in 1996.
At the end of 1997 he left Manly to play for the
London Broncos and rejoined Souths in 1999.
[W&H]
