Bailey George Simonsson (born 18 February 1998) is a New Zealand Māori international

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who plays as a er for the Parramatta Eels in the

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

Background

Simonsson was born in Mona Vale,

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. He is of

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

heritage through his father and European heritage through his mothe
Rugby: Bailey Simonsson has strong BOP ties
Retrieved 12 July 2022.

Playing career

Early career

Simonsson played for the Canberra Raiders in the

Harold Matthews Cup The NSWRL Harold Matthews Cup is a junior rugby league competition played in New South Wales between teams made up of players aged under 16. The competition is administered by the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL). The competition is made up o ...

(under 16s), later joining the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs to play

S. G. Ball Cup The S. G. Ball Cup is a junior rugby league football competition played predominantly in New South Wales, between teams made up of players aged under 19. Teams from Canberra and Melbourne (Victoria Thunderbolts) also participate. Prior to the C ...

(under 18s) and NYC (under 20s) until 2017.

Switch to rugby union

In 2018, Simonsson represented the New Zealand rugby 7s team at the tournaments in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Return to rugby league

Simonsson signed with the Canberra Raiders in December 2018. He made his first grade debut in Round 1 of the

2019 NRL season The 2019 NRL season was the 112th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 22nd season run by the National Rugby League. The Sydney Roosters became the first team to win back-to-back Premierships since the Brisbane Broncos in 1992 ...

against the Gold Coast Titans scoring a try in a 21-0 victory. In Round 20 against the

New Zealand Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as ...

, Simonsson scored 2 tries as Canberra won the match 46-12 at

Mount Smart Stadium Mount Smart Stadium (formerly known as Ericsson Stadium) is a multipurpose stadium in Auckland, New Zealand. It is the main home ground of the New Zealand Warriors of the National Rugby League, and occasionally hosts rugby union and internatio ...

. In the 2019 qualifying final, Simonsson scored a try as Canberra staged a shock 12-10 victory over minor premiers Melbourne at

AAMI Park The Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, known as AAMI Park for sponsorship reasons, is an outdoor sports stadium on the site of Edwin Flack Field in the Sports and Entertainment Precinct in the Melbourne central business district. When completed ...

to secure a home preliminary final. Simonsson played from the bench in the

2019 NRL Grand Final The 2019 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2019 National Rugby League season and was played at Sydney's ANZ Stadium. The match was contested between defending premiers the Sydney Roosters and the Canberra Ra ...

against the Sydney Roosters in which Canberra were defeated 14-8 at ANZ Stadium. It was Canberra's first grand final appearance in 25 years. Simonsson suffered a season-ending shoulder injury against Melbourne at GIO Stadium in round 9 of the

2020 NRL season The 2020 NRL season was the 113th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 23rd season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 14th consecutive year. ; Notes : : : Pre-season ...

after which he underwent surgery and spent the rest of the season in rehabilitation. In round 22 of the

2021 NRL season The 2021 NRL season was the 114th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 24th season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 15th consecutive year. Regular season Ladd ...

, he scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in Canberra's 26-16 loss against Melbourne. On 10 December 2021, Simonsson signed a three-year deal to join Parramatta starting in the

2022 NRL season The 2022 NRL season is the 115th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 25th season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 16th consecutive year. This became the second longest s ...

. In round 1 of the

, he made his club debut for Parramatta in their 32-28 victory over the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

. In round 12 of the

, he scored two tries for Parramatta in their 28-20 victory over his former side

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

. Simonsson played for Parramatta in their 28-12

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

loss to Penrith. In the second half of the match, Simonsson made a break down the left hand side of the field but was tackled into touch by

Dylan Edwards Dylan Edwards (born 10 January 1996) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a for the Penrith Panthers in the NRL with whom he won the 2021 and 2022 NRL premierships. Background Edwards was born in Albury, New Sou ...

. Simonsson injured his shoulder during the tackle and was taken from the field with his arm being held in a sling.

References

External links

Raiders profileAll Blacks sevens profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simonsson, Bailey 1998 births Living people Australian people of Māori descent Australian people of New Zealand descent Australian people of Swedish descent Australian rugby league players Australian rugby union players Canberra Raiders players Parramatta Eels players New Zealand international rugby sevens players New Zealand Māori rugby league players New Zealand Māori rugby league team players People educated at Newington College Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby league wingers