He played club football in the Brisbane Rugby League premiership for Fortitude Valley and in the NSWRL premiership for the St. George Dragons and Brisbane Broncos, achieving selection to play for Queensland in State of Origin series, and London Broncos.
Hailing from Cairns, Queensland, Gavin Allen started his career with Brisbane's Fortitude Valley Diehards before moving to Sydney's St. George Dragons for the 1987–88 seasons.
[1] Allen played a major part in the Brisbane forward pack that dominated St. George in the 1992 grand final.
With Glenn Lazarus, Andrew Gee and Mark Hohn competing, however, Allen found it very difficult at this time to maintain his first-grade berth.
[citation needed] Consequently, Paul Vautin picked him up and chose him for the three State of Origin games, in which his experience and workrate helped players like Gary Larson and Billy Moore win Queensland a totally unexpected cleansweep.