Jack Hetherington (born 8 June 1996) 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 and forward 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 ...

(NRL). He previously played for the

Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Greater Western Sydney suburb of Penrith, New South Wales, Penrith that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL). The team is based west of the cen ...

New Zealand Warriors The Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as the Aucklan ...

and 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 NRL.

Background

Hetherington was born in

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

, ACT, Australia. He is the grandson of

Bill Mullins William Mullins (born 30 January 1948) is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played during the 1960s and 1970s in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership, the major rugby league competition in Australia at the time. Caree ...

, son of Brett Hetherington, nephew of

Brett Mullins Brett Mullins (born 21 January 1972) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s, and early 2000s. A New South Wales State of Origin and Australian international representative back, he played his club ...

and cousin of

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 ...

player James Schiller. Hetherington played his junior rugby league for the

Valentine Devils The Valentine-Eleebana Red Devils are a junior rugby league club based in Lake Macquarie, NSW. They were formed in 1970, and have become a feeder club for Lakes United in the Newcastle Rugby League and the Newcastle Knights in the National Rugb ...

and Young Cherrypickers.

Playing career

2018 & 2019

In 2018, he made his

début for Penrith against 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 ...

. Hetherington played 13 NRL games in his rookie season, later re-signing with Penrith until the end of the 2021 season.

2020

On 18 June 2020, Hetherington was temporarily released to join the

on loan. In round 13 of 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 ...

, Hetherington was placed on report for a dangerous tackle on Manly player Martin Taupau. Hetherington was later suspended for four matches after pleading guilty to the dangerous tackle. In October 2020, Hetherington was released by Penrith and he signed a contract to join

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

2021

In round 6 of 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 ...

, Hetherington was sent off after hitting North Queensland player

Valentine Holmes Valentine Holmes (born 24 July 1995) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a for the St. George Illawarra Dragons in the National Rugby League and for the Queensland Maroons in State of Origin as a er. Holmes pr ...

around the head with a dangerous high tackle. Canterbury would go on to lose the match 30-18. On 20 April, Hetherington was given a five-game suspension for his dangerous high tackle after taking an early guilty plea. In round 21, Hetherington was sent to the sin bin yet again after using a dangerous high tackle during Canterbury's 28-16 loss 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 ...

. Hetherington made a total of 17 appearances for Canterbury in the

as the club finished last and claimed the

Wooden Spoon A wooden spoon is a Kitchen utensil, utensil commonly used in food preparation. In addition to its culinary uses, wooden spoons also feature in folk art and culture. History The word ''spoon'' derives from an ancient word meaning a chip of woo ...

2022

In round 3 of 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 ...

, Hetherington was taken from the field during Canterbury's loss against Manly. It was later announced that Hetherington would require shoulder surgery which ruled him out for the remainder of the season. In June, Hetherington signed a three-year contract with the

starting in 2023.

2023

Hetherington played 26 matches for Newcastle in 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 ...

as the club finished 5th on the table. Hetherington played in both finals games as Newcastle were eliminated in the second week of the finals by the

2024

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 ...

, Hetherington was sent to the sin bin during Newcastle's loss against Canterbury. Hetherington was then spotted on video camera shadowboxing

Reed Mahoney Reed Mahoney (born 22 April 1998) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the National Rugby League (NRL). He has played for the Prime Minister's XIII. He previously played ...

in the tunnel who had also been sin binned. Hetherington then punched Mahoney and the two players needed to be separated. Hetherington was handed a one-match ban over the incident. Hetherington played 21 matches for Newcastle in the

as the club finished 8th and qualified for the finals. They were eliminated in the first week of the finals by North Queensland.

Statistics

References

External links

Newcastle Knights profileCanterbury Bulldogs profile

Penrith Panthers profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hetherington, Jack 1996 births Living people Australian rugby league players Australian expatriate sportspeople in New Zealand Newcastle Knights players Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players New Zealand Warriors players Penrith Panthers players Rugby league players from Canberra Rugby league props 21st-century Australian sportsmen