Jayden “Bud” Sullivan (born 16 September 2001) is a 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 A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a halfback,

five-eighth Five-eighth or stand-off is one of the positions in a rugby league football team. Wearing jersey number 6, this player is one of the two half backs in a team, partnering the . Sometimes known as the pivot or second receiver, in a traditional a ...

or hooker for the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney District Rugby League Football Club, also known as the South Sydney Rabbitohs, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra, New South Wales, Maroubra that competes in the Nat ...

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).

Background

Sullivan was born in Port Kembla NSW and is of Macedonian and Indigenous Australian descent.

Career

Early career

Sullivan played his junior rugby league at

Western Suburbs Red Devils The Western Suburbs Red Devils (Wests Illawarra, Wests Wollongong, Wests Red Devils or simply Wests Devils) are an Australian rugby league football team based in Figtree, a suburb of Wollongong. The club is a member of the Country Rugby League ...

Illawarra Rugby League The Illawarra Rugby League is a rugby league competition in Wollongong, NSW. It is one of the oldest rugby league competitions in Australia, founded in 1911 with five clubs (Dapto, Helensburgh, Mount Keira, Unanderra and Wollongong). The area p ...

. In 2019, he was selected for the New South Wales Under-18's team after an impressive year where he won the 2019 S. G. Ball Cup with the

Illawarra Steelers The Illawarra Steelers are an Australian rugby league football club based in the city of Wollongong, New South Wales. The club competed in Australia's top-level rugby league competition from 1982 until 1998. On 13 December 1980, they were the ...

as captain.

2020

Sullivan made his debut for St. George Illawarra against

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

in round 20 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 ...

2021

Sullivan made five appearances for St. George Illawarra in 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 ...

as the club missed out on the finals by finishing 11th on the table.

2022

Sullivan played nine games for St. George Illawarra in 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 ...

as the club finished 10th on the table and missed the finals.

2023

In round 10 of 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 ...

, Sullivan scored two tries for St. George Illawarra in their 16-18 loss against the bottom placed

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 July 2023, Sullivan toured the Wests Tigers facilities after he was given permission to speak to other teams. On 17 August 2023, Sullivan was released from the final years of his contract to sign with the

on a four-year deal.

2024

Sullivan played nine games for the Wests Tigers throughout 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 ...

as the club finished with 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 ...

for a third consecutive year. On 20 December, Sullivan was released by the Wests Tigers. The clubs CEO Shane Richardson said to the media “The only reason we’ve let Jayden go is because you can’t have him on that money when we’ve signed

Jarome Luai Jarome Luai (born 16 January 1997) is a international rugby league footballer who plays as a or and is co-captain for the Wests Tigers in the National Rugby League, NRL (National Rugby League). He previously played for the Penrith Panthers ...

". On the same day, Sullivan signed a contract to join South Sydney ahead of the

2025 NRL season The 2025 NRL season is the 118th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 28th season run by the National Rugby League (NRL). The regular season will be followed by a finals series contested by the top eight teams on the competiti ...

Statistics

*denotes season still competing

Personal life

On 12 January 2025, Sullivan received praise after he helped rescue members of a family who were kayaking in Lake Illawarra, Sullivan helped while a rescue team was making their way over to finish off the rescue.

References

External links

Dragons profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sullivan, Jayden 2001 births Living people Australian rugby league players Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league halfbacks St. George Illawarra Dragons players Wests Tigers players South Sydney Rabbitohs players Australian people of New Zealand descent Australian people of Macedonian descent 21st-century Australian sportsmen