Kane Cleal (born 5 April 1984) is an Australian former 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 played 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 ...

. He played for the

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Manly club debuted in the 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League sea ...

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 ...

and 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 ...

Background

Kane is the son of former Manly, NSW and Australian rugby league footballer,

Noel Cleal Noel Harvey "Crusher" Cleal (born 16 October 1958) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer and coach. A destructive for the Manly Sea Eagles, he also represented New South Wales in the State of Origin Series and the Austra ...

. He is also the nephew of former Roosters player Les Cleal. Cleal played his junior rugby league for the

Warialda Warialda is a town in the North West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia, in Gwydir Shire. It is situated on the banks of Warialda Creek. At the , Warialda had a population of 1,120. Transport The Gwydir Highway runs through town and ...

Wombats before joining the Hills Bulls when the family moved to Sydney. Cleal graduated from

Gilroy College Gilroy Catholic College is a Roman Catholic comprehensive co-educational secondary day school located in Castle Hill, in the Hills District of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The College provides a Catholic and general education for stud ...

, Castle Hill in 2001 and entered the JETS program at 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 (NRL). The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and ...

Playing career

Cleal made his first grade debut for

Manly-Warringah The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Manly club debuted in the 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League seaso ...

in Round 3 of the

2004 NRL season The 2004 NRL season (also known as the 2004 Telstra Premiership due to sponsorship from Telstra) was the 97th season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the seventh run by the National Rugby League. Fifteen clubs competed dur ...

against Cronulla-Sutherland at

Shark Park Endeavour Field, known colloquially as Shark Park or Sharks Stadium, is a rugby league stadium in the southern Sydney suburb of Woolooware, New South Wales, Australia. It is the home ground of the Cronulla-Sutherland Rugby League Club, which re ...

. Cleal made nine appearances in his debut season, and another five in 2005. Early in the

2006 NRL season The 2006 NRL season was the 99th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the ninth run by the National Rugby League. The lineup of teams remained unchanged from the previous year, with fifteen clubs competing for the 2006 Te ...

, Cleal joined South Sydney. He played nine games for Souths as the club finished last on the table. Cleal was subsequently released by Souths and he joined Canterbury-Bankstown for the

2007 NRL season The 2007 NRL season was the one hundredth season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the tenth run by the National Rugby League. Sixteen teams contested the NRL's 2007 Telstra Premiership, and with the inclusi ...

. Cleal scored his first try for

Canterbury-Bankstown Canterbury-Bankstown is a customary region of Sydney, Australia, in Inner South-Western Sydney. The region is located to the north of the St George region (from which it is separated by Wolli Creek) and to the south of the Inner West region ...

in the 2007 Good Friday clash against his former club South Sydney, with the Bulldogs winning 34–10. Cleal suffered a severe broken jaw on 8 July 2007 in a tackle with

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 ...

prop

Ben Ross Benjamin David "Ben" Ross (born 23 May 1980) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. A Queensland State of Origin representative forward, he played in the National Rugby League for the S ...

. The second such injury of his career, the first occurring in the 2002 S.G Ball Cup grand final, it ended his 2007 season. Cleal suffered a groin injury early in the

2008 NRL season The 2008 NRL season was the 101st season of professional rugby league club competition in Australia, and the eleventh run by the National Rugby League. For the second year, sixteen teams competed for the 2008 Telstra Premiership title. The sea ...

, only managing four games for Canterbury as the club finished last on the table and claimed the wooden spoon. Cleal resigned with South Sydney for the 2009 and 2010 seasons. However, he suffered a career-ending hand injury in a training drill that went wrong and was forced to retired from the game at the end of 2009 at the age of 25. In 2013, Cleal signed on to play one game for the Coolah Kangaroos in the

Castlereagh Cup The Castlereagh League (also known as the Castlereagh Cup and Group 14) is a rugby league competition in western New South Wales, Australia, run under the auspices of the New South Wales Country Rugby League, Country Rugby League. For all intent ...

References

External links

Kane Cleal Souths ProfileKane Cleal Bulldogs Profile
1984 births Australian rugby league players Manly Warringah Sea Eagles players South Sydney Rabbitohs players Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players Rugby league props Living people Rugby league players from Sydney {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1980s-stub