Ben Hampton (born 29 February 1992) is a former Australian professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who last played as a utility for the

North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest city in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). Sinc ...

in the National Rugby League (NRL). Hampton previously played for the

Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm is a rugby league football club based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia that participates in the National Rugby League (NRL). The club plays its home games at AAMI Park, and wears a purple and navy blu ...

and has played in a number of positions throughout his career.

Early life

Hampton was born in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and grew up in Temora, New South Wales, attending Temora West Public School until year 6. He played junior rugby league for the Temora Dragons. When his family moved to Mareeba in

North Queensland North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its Tropical North Queensland, trop ...

, he attended Mareeba State High School and played his junior football for the Mareeba Gladiators before being signed to a

scholarship.

Playing career

Early career

In 2008, while playing for the Northern Marlins representative side, Hampton represented the Queensland under-16 rugby league team. In 2010, Hampton joined the Storm's SG Ball Cup side. Later that year he made his debut for their NYC side and was chosen for the Queensland under-18 rugby league team. In 2012, Hampton was promoted to Melbourne's full-time squad and selected to captain the Queensland under-20 rugby league team in the inaugural U20 State of Origin match. In October 2012, Hampton played fullback for the Junior Kangaroos in their 48–16 win over the Junior Kiwis.

2013

Hampton made his NRL debut for the

in round 15 against the Gold Coast, where he scored Melbourne's two tries, made an impressive try saving tackle on Ashley Harrison and took on the kicking duties after senior playmaker Gareth Widdop was stretchered from the field. He played only one further first-grade match in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, mostly playing for Melbourne's feeder teams in the NSW and QLD Cups, the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks and Easts Tigers.

2014

Due to the departures of Widdop and Brett Finch, Hampton started the season as Melbourne's starting , until Round 16 when he was dropped for Ben Roberts. He didn't play in first grade for the rest of the year. On 30 July, Hampton re-signed with the

keeping him with the club to the end of the 2016 NRL season. Hampton finished the

year A year is a unit of time based on how long it takes the Earth to orbit the Sun. In scientific use, the tropical year (approximately 365 Synodic day, solar days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 45 seconds) and the sidereal year (about 20 minutes longer) ...

with 11 matches and 2 tries.

2015

Hampton played for the Melbourne club in the 2015 NRL Auckland Nines. He finished off the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

with three matches and 1 try for the

, playing most of the year for the Sunshine Coast Falcons in the Queensland Cup.

2016

Hampton was again named in the Storm's Nines squad. On 2 October, in the 2016 NRL Grand Final against the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, Hampton played off the interchange bench in the Storm's 14–12 loss. Hampton finished the 2016 NRL season with one try from 20 matches. On 27 October, the

signed Hampton to a three-year deal, starting in 2017.

2017

In February, Hampton was named in the

Nines squad. In Round 1, Hampton made his club debut for the North Queensland club against the Canberra Raiders, where he came off the interchange bench in the 20-16 Golden point extra time win at 1300SMILES Stadium. He scored his first try for the club in North Queensland's Round 11 loss to the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks. On 1 October, Hampton started on the interchange in the Cowboys'

2017 NRL Grand Final The 2017 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2017 National Rugby League season and was played on Sunday October 1 at Sydney's ANZ Stadium. The match was contested between minor premiers the Melbourne Storm ...

loss to his former club, the

. He played 26 games in 2017, the most in his career to date. This season Hampton played three games for the Cowboys'

Cairns Cairns (; ) is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people. The city was founded in 1876 and named after William Cairns, Sir W ...

based feeder club, the Northern Pride, scoring one try.

2018

Hampton played 22 games for the North Queensland club in 2018, starting in all but eight games. Due to an injury to Lachlan Coote, he began the

as the club's starting fullback, playing the first five games of the year in the position. He moved to centre in Round 6 following Coote's return, playing seven games there before returning to the bench in Round 15. He ended the year as the Cowboys' starting fullback, playing the last two games in the position, scoring four tries.

2019

After starting the season with the Northern Pride, Hampton made his season debut in North Queensland's Round 3 loss to the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks. In Round 5, Hampton played on the wing for the first time in his NRL career in North Queensland's loss to the

. In Round 10, he ruptured his bicep in the Cowboys' win over the Parramatta Eels, ruling him out for the rest of the season. On 17 September, Hampton signed a 2-year contract extension which would take him to the end of 2021. On 18 September, he was named the Cowboys' 2019 Club Person of the Year at the club's presentation night.

2020

After an injury interrupted 2019, Hampton returned to the

starting line-up in 2020, starting their first four games on the wing, scoring four tries. Hampton was moved back to the bench in Round 6 and played five games in the utility role. In Round 11, he played his 100th NRL game. In Round 12, Hampton started at for the first time since 2017, playing three more games in the halves.

Achievements and accolades

Individual

* North Queensland Cowboys Club Person of the Year: 2019

Statistics

NRL

: ''Statistics are correct to the end of the 2020 season''

References

External links

North Queensland Cowboys profileNRL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hampton, Ben 1992 births Living people Australian rugby league players Brisbane Tigers players Junior Kangaroos players Melbourne Storm players North Queensland Cowboys players Northern Pride RLFC players Queensland Residents rugby league team players Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league halfbacks Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from Wagga Wagga Sunshine Coast Falcons players Townsville Blackhawks players 21st-century Australian sportsmen