Henry's Story
As the son of a former Roosters star, Australian rugby sevens speedster Henry Paterson initially believed his future lay in rugby league.
Henry’s dad Trevor played 69 games with the Roosters between 1986 and 1991, so trialling with the club as a teenager seemed only natural.
But the stars didn’t align and Henry was cut by the club at the age of 18.
Undeterred, he switched to rugby union and joined Eastern Suburbs, where he played in the Shute Shield.
But Henry’s career didn’t really take off until he linked with trainer Justin Lang – the son of former Cronulla, Souths and Penrith coach John Lang.
Despite not having made his debut on the World Series circuit, Henry was selected for his Olympic debut for Tokyo in 2021, but had to withdraw on the eve of the Games due to injury.
The disappointment of missing out on the Games has driven his performance ever since.
“These experiences, I like to think you come back better and stronger from them," Henry said. “I’m taking these negative experiences as learning experiences and trying to grow from them."
Henry was in outstanding form during the 2021-22 World Rugby Sevens Series, helping Australia win the sport’s annual showpiece series for the first time since it began in 1999-2000. That season, he powered Australia to a drought-breaking extra time victory over New Zealand at Twickenham, scoring a hat-trick and making a match-saving tackle in a 19-14 win in the London Sevens Cup final.
He was among the try-scorers at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in 2022, where Australian finished fourth, losing to New Zealand in the play-off for bronze. He was also among Australia’s best at the Sevens World Cup in Cape Town that year.
Henry had a stellar 2023 Sevens World Series, named in the competition’s dream team after guiding the Aussies to Olympic qualification.
These standout performances were enough to see Henry claim the 2023 Shawn MacKay Medal for sevens player of the year, despite missing the last two events of the series with injury.
At Paris 2024 Henry played a part in the men's rugby sevens team's best-ever finish at an Olympic Games.
After going undefeated against Samoa (21-14), Kenya (21-7) and Argentina (22-14) in the pool stage they booked a spot in the semi-finals with an 18-0 shutout of the USA. The Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Fiji side awaited in the quarter-finals, where the Aussie's run was halted with a 7-31 loss.
There was another chance at a medal in the battle for bronze against South Africa hours later, with South Africa winning 26-19 to put Australia in fourth place.
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