Jai Field (born 6 September 1997) is an Australian professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who plays as a and for the

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors are a professional rugby league club in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Super League. Formed in 1872 as Wigan Football Club, Wigan was a founding member of the Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby ...

in the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of ...

. He previously played for the

St. George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George, Sydney, St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since NR ...

and the

Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and thei ...

in the

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

Background

Field was born in Forbes , New South Wales, Australia, and is of Indigenous Australian (Wiradjuri) and Irish descent. He played his junior rugby league for the

Shellharbour Sharks The Shellharbour City Sharks are a Country Rugby League club founded in 1920 located on the South Coast of NSW that compete in the South Coast Group 7 competition. Club Info History Shellharbour City RLFC has a 113-year history, originally exi ...

, before being signed by the

Playing career

2016

In 2016, Field played for the St. George Illawarra Dragons'

NYC New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

team. In December, he re-signed with the St. George club on a three-year contract until the end of 2019.

2017

In round 1 of the

2017 NRL season The 2017 NRL season was the 110th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 20th 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, w ...

, Field made his

debut for St. George against the

Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith that competes in the NRL. The team is based west of the centre of Sydney, at the foot of the Blue Mountains. Penri ...

. He saw his next two games in round 10 and 11, after injuries to the Dragons' top squad.

2018

Field played two first grade games for the 2018 season, both of them coming off the bench.

2019

Field made a total of 6 appearances for St George in 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 ...

as the club finished second last on the table. In November 2019, it was announced that Field had been released by the club.

2020

On 20 February, Field signed a train-and-trial contract with

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

after his move to English side

Leeds Leeds () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the thi ...

broke down. Field played in the club's 28-24 trial game loss against South Sydney. On 24 May, Field signed a contract to join the Parramatta development squad for the rest 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 ...

. In round 8, Field made his debut for Parramatta and scored a try as Parramatta defeated North Queensland 42-4 at

Bankwest Stadium Western Sydney Stadium, commercially known as Commonwealth Bank, CommBank Stadium, is a multi-purpose rectangular stadium in Parramatta, within the Greater Western Sydney region, approximately west of Sydney CBD. It replaced the demolished Pa ...

. On 12 October, Field was released by the Parramatta club along with ten other players. Field was announced as a

player for 2021 on 9 November 2020.

2021

On 26 March, Field featured in his first game for the

against

Leigh Centurions The Leigh Leopards are a professional rugby league club based in Leigh, Greater Manchester, England, who compete in the Betfred Super League. The club was founded in 1878, and is one of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern ...

. He played on the wing, a position that he had little experience in. He limped off the pitch early on and did not return. It was later revealed that he had suffered a hamstring injury and would be out of action for at least five months.

2022

In round 2 of the 2022 Super League season, Field 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 wi ...

in Wigan's 34-12 victory over

. On 28 May, Field played for Wigan in their

2022 Challenge Cup Final The 2022 Challenge Cup Final was the 121st final of rugby league's Challenge Cup knock-out competition, which was contested between Huddersfield Giants and Wigan Warriors. It took place on 28 May 2022 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Wigan won ...

win over

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into t ...

. On the 4 of September Field made the Super League dream team at Fullback.

References

External links

St. George Illawarra Dragons profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Field, Jai 1997 births Living people Australian people of Irish descent Australian rugby league players Indigenous Australian rugby league players Parramatta Eels players Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league halfbacks Rugby league players from New South Wales St. George Illawarra Dragons players Wigan Warriors players Wiradjuri