Luke Covell (born 9 November 1981) is a former

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

international

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 as a goal-kicking winger for 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 ...

and

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 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 also played at representative level for NSW Country and was described as one of the most respected players in the NRL. Although born and raised in Australia, Covell was eligible to play for

through his father, making one appearance for the Kiwis in 2007.

Early life

Covell was born in

Goondiwindi Goondiwindi () is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), 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, ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, to a New Zealand father and an Australian mother. He was raised in

Murwillumbah Murwillumbah ( ) is a town in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia, in the Tweed Shire, on the Tweed River. Sitting on the south eastern foothills of the McPherson Range in the Tweed Volcano valley, Murwillumbah is 848&nbs ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, and attended Mt St Patrick's College. Covell played early football for the

Murwillumbah Colts The Northern Rivers Regional Rugby League (NRRRL) is a rugby league competition run in the far north of New South Wales, Australia. It is run under the auspices of the Country Rugby League. The league formed in 2005 as an extended Group 1 Rugby L ...

NRL career

Covell debuted with the

in 2003 at the age of 21. The winger's limited game time saw him join the

in 2004. In 2007, Covell made his Test Debut for New Zealand against Australia, in which a young Australian side defeated the Kiwis 58–0. Covell however was injured in the early minutes of the match and it was to be his sole international appearance. In 2008, Covell won the Dally M Pointscorer of the Year award, playing a major role in the Cronulla-Sutherland's stellar season. He went on to score over a thousand points in his career. Covell was known for his lack of speed, but made up for it in determination, and was a fluent goalkicker. "I know some people out there think I'm too slow for the NRL. Not talented enough. But that's okay ... I've always known it too," Covell once said. In 2010, Covell became the first

Player to have (LARS) ligament augmentation and reconstruction surgery. Not long after his return from surgery, he announced he intended to retire at the end of the 2010 season, saying, "I’m proud to say I played for the Cronulla Sharks and Wests Tigers, I’ve had a great time and I wouldn’t change a thing."

Post-NRL career

Covell returned home to play for the

Murwillumbah Mustangs The Northern Rivers Regional Rugby League (NRRRL) is a rugby league competition run in the far north of New South Wales, Australia. It is run under the auspices of the Country Rugby League. The league formed in 2005 as an extended Group 1 Rugby L ...

in the

Northern Rivers Regional Rugby League The Northern Rivers Regional Rugby League (NRRRL) is a rugby league competition run in the far north of New South Wales, Australia. It is run under the auspices of the New South Wales Country Rugby League, Country Rugby League. The league formed ...

. He played in the second row and as the team's goalkicker. In 2012, Covell won a premiership with his late penalty goal resulting in the Mustangs overhauling the Grafton Ghosts in the final minutes to win 27–26. Covell played for the Mustangs again in 2013, losing to Ballina in the grand final. Covell is an Australian Apprenticeships Ambassador for the Australian Government and an Apprentice Mentor in the NRL's Trade UP with the NRL Program. In 2014, while undertaking a plumbing apprenticeship and studying at

TAFE Technical and further education or simply TAFE () is the common name in Australia for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational courses. Colloquially also known ...

, Covell represented the New South Wales Tertiary team. His daughter Chloe Covell is an Australian

skateboarder Skateboarding is an action sport that involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry job, and a method of transportation. Originating in the United Stat ...

, who competed in the women's street event at the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Covell, Luke 1981 births Living people Australian rugby league players Australian people of New Zealand descent Country New South Wales Origin rugby league team players Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks players New South Wales Residents rugby league team players New Zealand national rugby league team players People from Goondiwindi Rugby league wingers Wests Tigers players 21st-century Australian sportsmen