Blayke Brailey (born 23 September 1998) is an Australian

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 plays as a for the

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the Sutherland Shire of Southern Sydney, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. Cronulla compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugb ...

in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

(NRL). He is known for his tackling abilities and defensive attributes.

Background

Brailey was born in Sydney, Australia. He played his junior rugby league for the Aquinas Colts. His older brother

Jayden Jayden, Jadin, Jadyn, Jaiden, and Jaden (among other variations) are unisex given name, given names that were rather obscure until the 1990s, when they began to appear on the U.S. Social Security Administration's list of the 1,000 most popular bo ...

is also a hooker who plays for the

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league team based in Newcastle, New South Wales that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, the Knights joined the top-tier competition in New ...

in the

Playing career

2018

Brailey played for Cronulla's feeder club side

Newtown Jets The Newtown Jets are an Australian rugby league football club based in Newtown, New South Wales, Newtown, a suburb of Inner West (Sydney), Sydney's inner west. They currently compete in the NSW Cup competition, having left the top grade after t ...

in the 2018

Intrust Super Premiership NSW The NSW Cup, currently known as the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. The competition has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserve ...

grand final against

Canterbury-Bankstown Canterbury-Bankstown is a customary region of Sydney, Australia, in Inner South-Western Sydney. The region is located to the north of the St George region (from which it is separated by Wolli Creek) and to the south of the Inner West region ...

Leichhardt Oval Leichhardt Oval is a rugby league and soccer stadium in Lilyfield, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently one of three home grounds for the Wests Tigers National Rugby League (NRL) team, along with Campbelltown Stadium and Western Syd ...

which Newtown lost 18–12.

2019

Brailey 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

. Brailey played for Cronulla's feeder side Newtown in their

Canterbury Cup NSW The NSW Cup, currently known as the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. The competition has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserve ...

grand final victory over the

Wentworthville Magpies The Wentworthville Magpies, colloquially known as ''Wenty'', are an Australian rugby league team based in the suburb of Wentworthville in Greater Western Sydney, Sydney's Western Suburbs. Founded in 1963 (or 1937), the club has competed in vari ...

Bankwest Stadium Western Sydney Stadium, currently known as CommBank Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in the suburb of Parramatta, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It replaced the demolished Parramatta Stadium (1986) which in turn ...

. Newtown won the match 20–15 after extra-time. The following week, Brailey played in the

NRL State Championship The NRL State Championship is a rugby league match contested by the premiers of the two elite second-tier competitions in Australia, the New South Wales Cup and the Queensland Cup. The match has been played as a curtain-raiser to the NRL Grand ...

final for Newtown against the

Burleigh Bears The Burleigh Bears are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Gold Coast, Australia. They compete in Queensland's top rugby league competition, the Queensland Cup. Since their admission to the competition in 1997, the ...

ANZ Stadium Stadium Australia, currently known as Accor Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the suburb of Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The stadium, which is sometimes referred to as Sydney Ol ...

which Newtown won on the final siren after trailing Burleigh 16–14 to win 20–16.

2020

After the departure of his brother Jayden to

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

, Brailey became the Sharks’ first-choice hooker for 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 ...

. Brailey played in 20 games throughout the shortened season, including Cronulla’s elimination final exit.

2021

Brailey played a total of 24 games for Cronulla in 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 ...

which saw the club finish 9th and narrowly miss out on the finals.

2022

Brailey played 26 games for Cronulla in the

2022 NRL season The 2022 NRL season was 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 ...

including both of the clubs finals games as they were eliminated in straight sets losing to

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 ...

and South Sydney.

2023

Brailey was added to the extended squad for the NSW Blues for Game 1 in Adelaide. In round 18 of the

2023 NRL season The 2023 NRL season was the 116th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 26th season run by the National Rugby League. The season consisted of 27 competition rounds, the longest in league history, followed by a finals series ...

, Brailey made his 100th first grade appearance for Cronulla in their 52-16 victory over rivals St. George Illawarra. Brailey was named 2023 Porter Gallen Medal winner as 2023 Cronulla Sharks player of the year and also Tommy Bishop Player's Player.

2024

Brailey played 27 games for Cronulla in the

2024 NRL season The 2024 NRL season was the 117th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 27th season run by the National Rugby League (NRL). The season consisted of 27 competition rounds, followed by a finals series contested by the top eight ...

as the club finished 4th on the table and qualified for the finals. Brailey played in the clubs preliminary final loss against Penrith.

Statistics

NRL

: *denotes season competing

References

External links

Sharks profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brailey, Blayke 1998 births Living people Australian rugby league players Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks players New South Wales Residents rugby league team players Newtown Jets NSW Cup players Rugby league hookers Rugby league players from Sydney 21st-century Australian sportsmen