Clay Priest (born 5 February 1989) 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 last played for the

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilitated by ...

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 ...

. He plays as a and . He has previously played for the

Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugb ...

. He currently plays for the Mudgee Dragons in the Western Premiership

Background

Born in

Penrith, New South Wales Penrith is a city in New South Wales, Australia, located in Greater Western Sydney, 55 kilometres (31 mi) west of the Sydney central business district on the banks of the Nepean River, on the outskirts of the Cumberland Plain. Its elevati ...

, Priest played his junior rugby league for

Brothers Penrith Penrith Brothers Rugby League Football Club is an Australian rugby league football club based in Penrith, New South Wales which was formed in 1968. It was initially known as St. Dominics RLFC but was rebranded as Penrith Brothers RLFC in 2003. O ...

, before being signed by the

Mount Pritchard Mounties The Mounties Rugby League Football Club (sponsored by Mounties Group) is an Australian rugby league football club based in Mount Pritchard, New South Wales formed in 1927. They currently play in the Ron Massey Cup and Sydney Shield. Recent ...

Playing career

Early career

In 2014, Priest joined the Mount Pritchard Mounties in the

New South Wales Cup 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 ...

, while training with

NRL 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 ...

side

during the pre-season.

2016

After impressing for the Mounties, Priest was handed a second-tier contract with the Raiders and made his NRL debut for them against the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers is an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West of Sydney and South Western Sydney. The Tigers have competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since being formed at the end of the 1999 N ...

in round 8 of the

2016 NRL season The 2016 NRL season was the 109th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 19th season run by the National Rugby League. The season started in New Zealand with the annual Auckland Nines, and was followed by the All Stars Match, ...

. On 18 August, he re-signed with the Raiders on a 2-year contract until the end of 2018. He finished his debut season with 14 NRL matches.

2017

Priest played 17 NRL matches for the Raiders during the 2017 season. In November, he signed a contract with the

for the 2018 season, in a swap deal with Bulldogs player Brad Abbey joining the Raiders.

2018

On 27 August, Priest was one of the players announced by Canterbury to be leaving at the end of the season after his contract was not renewed by the club.

References

External links

Canterbury Bulldogs profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Priest, Clay 1989 births Living people Australian rugby league players Canberra Raiders players Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players Mount Pritchard Mounties players Rugby league locks Rugby league props Rugby league players from Penrith, New South Wales 21st-century Australian sportsmen