Maurice Longbottom (rugby 7s) was the only member of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games squad with previous Games’ experience after being part of the team that finished 5th on the Gold Coast four years earlier.

Longbottom, a proud Dharawal man, and his two sisters were raised by their single mum in the Sydney suburb of La Perouse where he attended Matraville Sports High School. He originally hoped to follow in the footsteps of relatives George and Bruce Longbottom who played rugby league for the Rabbitohs in the 1980s. Maurice played a handful of games for the Rabbitohs’ junior squad and the under-20 Bulldogs but was told he was too small for rugby league so he went back to park footy with the Coogee Wombats and working as a carpenter. Then in a quirk of fate, he was invited to play in the Ella 7s in 2017 – the marquee event for Indigenous Sevens Rugby named after the famed Ella brothers – and fell in love after the first game.

The fleet-footed playmaker made his World Rugby Sevens Series debut for Australia later the same year and has played in every major international tournament since, including the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, the COVID-delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and the Commonwealth Games in 2022. He was also part of the Australian team that claimed their first World Rugby Sevens Series title in 2021-22.