David Armstrong (born 9 April 2001) is an 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 plays as a for the Leigh Leopards 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 ...

. He previously played 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

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 ...

Background

Born in

Moree, New South Wales Moree () is a town in Moree Plains Shire in northern New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the banks of the Mehi River, in the centre of the rich black-soil plains. Newell and Gwydir highways intersect at the town. It can also be rea ...

, Armstrong played his junior rugby league for the Mungindi Grasshoppers before moving to

Goondiwindi, Queensland Goondiwindi () is a rural town and locality in the Goondiwindi Region, Queensland, Australia. It is on the border of Queensland and New South Wales. In the , the locality of Goondiwindi had a population of 6,230. Geography Goondiwindi is o ...

with his family when he was 12. He finished his schooling as a boarder at Toowoomba Grammar School and was a talented rugby union player.

Playing career

Early years

In 2019, Armstrong joined the

Redcliffe Dolphins Redcliffe Dolphins are a semi-professional rugby league club based in Redcliffe, Queensland, Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1947, they were accepted into the Brisbane Rugby League premiership (rugby league competition), Brisbane R ...

, playing for their Mal Meninga Cup and Hastings Deering Colts teams. In 2020, Armstrong signed with the

and was set to play for their Jersey Flegg Cup team before the season was cancelled due to COVID-19. He returned to Queensland, playing for the Goondiwindi Boars in the Toowoomba Rugby League, where he scored a hat trick in their 2021 Grand Final win over Highfields. In 2022, Armstrong returned to Newcastle, playing for their Jersey Flegg and

NSW 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 ...

teams. In 2023, he began training with the club's

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 ...

squad and was named on the extended bench for their round 27 match against the St. George Illawarra Dragons.

2024

In 2024, Armstrong joined Newcastle's NRL top 30 squad on a one-year contract. In round 8 of 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 ...

, he made his NRL debut for Newcastle against the

Dolphins A dolphin is an aquatic mammal in the cetacean clade Odontoceti (toothed whale). Dolphins belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontopori ...

, scoring a try on debut. In round 11, Armstrong 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 Wick ...

in the clubs 28-24 victory over the Gold Coast. On 11 June, Armstrong handed in a transfer request stating he wished to leave the Newcastle club. In June, it was revealed that Armstrong would be joining English

side Leigh Leopards in 2025 on a three-year deal.

2025

Armstrong made his club debut for Leigh in round 1 of the 2025 Super League season against rivals

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

. Leigh would win the match 1-0 in extra-time after the game finished 0-0 at the conclusion of 80 minutes.

References

External links

Newcastle Knights profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Armstrong, David 2001 births Living people Australian rugby league players Leigh Leopards players Newcastle Knights players Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league wingers Rugby league players from New South Wales 21st-century Australian sportsmen