Clint Greenshields (born 11 January 1982) is a former

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

international

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 played as a for the

St George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons are an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since 1999 after a j ...

and 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

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 ...

, and for the

Catalans Dragons The Catalans Dragons (French language, French: ''Dragons Catalans'', Catalan language, Catalan: ''Dracs Catalans'') are a professional rugby league club from Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales department, France. Despite being based in France the ...

in the

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

Early years

Greenshields was born in

Coffs Harbour, New South Wales Coffs Harbour, locally nicknamed Coffs, is a coastal city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. It is one of the largest urban centres on the North Coast, with a population of 78,759 a ...

, Australia. A former Sawtell resident, Greenshields attended Toormina High School, who compete every year in the Robbie MacKinnon Cup against other local schools of the Coffs Harbour district. His junior club was the Sawtell Panthers JRLFC, a club recently crowned Group 2 senior champions.

Playing career

Greenshields made his first grade debut for the

after spending time in the lower grades for the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...

and

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 ...

. He moved to the

in 2007 and took the role as first-choice full back, becoming a key player. On 10 May 2008 it was announced that Greenshields has signed a new three-year contract with the French Super League club. Greenshields was named in the 2008

Super League Dream Team The Super League Dream Team is an annually-selected rugby league All Star Team consisting of the players deemed to have been the best in their respective positions in the Super League competition. The team is selected by a panel of journalists and ...

, beating world class talents like

Brent Webb Brent Douglas Webb (born 8 November 1980) is a former New Zealand international rugby league footballer who played as a . He previously played for the New Zealand Warriors in the NRL, before moving the Leeds Rhinos and the Catalans Dragons in ...

and

Paul Wellens Paul Simon Wellens (born 27 February 1980) is an English professional rugby league coach who is the head coach of St Helens RFC, St Helens in the Super League and a former professional rugby league footballer. A Great Britain national rugby l ...

to be named as the outstanding full back of the Super League season. He was also one of the front runners for the

Man of Steel award The Steve Prescott Man of Steel Awards is an end-of-season awards dinner for the Super League rugby league competition. The event's name is taken from the main award presented, the Man of Steel award for the rugby league footballer of the year. I ...

in 2008. Greenshields signed a one-year extension to his deal at Catalans Dragons in July 2011. Greenshields returned to the NRL in 2013, signing with the

, for whom he played 6 times, scoring three tries. He subsequently declared that the 2013 NRL season would be his last as a professional rugby league player, and announced his retirement at the end of the year. However, he later changed his mind and went on to win two Group 2 grand finals, 2017 and 2019 with the Grafton Ghosts.

Representative career

Qualifying via residency, Greenshields was selected for the French national rugby league team to compete in the 2009 Four Nations tournament. He made his debut against England on 23 October 2009, and played in the match against

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 ...

. He was named in the France squad for the

2013 Rugby League World Cup The 2013 Rugby League World Cup was the fourteenth World Cup for men’s national rugby league teams. It took place between the 26 October and 30 November and was hosted by England and Wales (although some games were played in France and Ire ...

.
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Career highlights

*''Junior Club:'' Sawtell Panthers JRLFC *''First Grade Debut:'' Round 9, St George Illawarra v Manly, Brookvale Oval, 9 May 2004

References

External links

Clint Greenshields Official WebsiteSuper League profileClint Greenshields Official Player ProfileClint Greenshields NRL Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greenshields, Clint 1982 births Living people Australian expatriate rugby league players in France Australian rugby league players Catalans Dragons players France national rugby league team players North Queensland Cowboys players Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from Coffs Harbour St. George Illawarra Dragons players 21st-century Australian sportsmen