Mathew Croker (born 11 September 1999) 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 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

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 ...

Background

Croker was born in

Nabiac, New South Wales Nabiac ( ) is a small town on the Mid North Coast, New South Wales, Australia in Mid-Coast Council. It is north-west of Forster, New South Wales, Forster, and south of Taree, New South Wales, Taree. At the , the population of Nabiac was 1,294. ...

, Australia. He is of Chilean descent. He played his junior rugby league for Taree City Bulls and Taree Panthers, before being signed by the

Playing career

Early years

Croker rose through the ranks for the Newcastle Knights, playing with their

Harold Matthews Cup The NSWRL Harold Matthews Cup is a junior rugby league competition played in New South Wales between teams made up of players aged under 17. The competition is administered by the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL). The competition is made up ...

team in 2015, the

S. G. Ball Cup The S. G. Ball Cup is a junior rugby league football competition played predominantly in New South Wales, between teams made up of male players aged under 19. Teams from Canberra and Melbourne, and Auckland also participate. Prior to the COVID ...

side from 2016 to 2017, captaining the side in the latter year, and finally the under-20s side from 2017 to 2019. During those years, he also played for the

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 ...

under-16s and under-20s teams. In November 2017, he re-signed with the Knights on a 3-year contract until the end of 2020. In 2020, he joined the Knights'

squad as one of their 6 allocated development players, as he graduated to the

Canterbury Cup NSW The NSW Cup, currently known as the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. The competition has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserve ...

team.

2021

In 2021, Croker started the year without a contract but played with Newcastle's

NSW Cup The NSW Cup, currently known as the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. The competition has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserve ...

squad as captain of the side. Ahead of round 13 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 ...

, Croker signed an NRL contract with the

after they lost three forwards from the last round in

Tyson Frizell Tyson Lomano David Frizell (born 9 October 1991) is a professional rugby league footballer who usually plays as a er for the Newcastle Knights in the NRL. Frizell has the distinction of appearing for three different national teams. He represen ...

(injury),

David Klemmer David Klemmer (born 22 December 1993) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a for the St. George Illawarra Dragons in the National Rugby League (NRL) and Australia international level. He previously played for th ...

(suspension) and Daniel Saifiti ( State of Origin selection). This allowed Croker to make his

debut for the Newcastle club against 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 ...

which ended in a 40-4 defeat.

2023

Croker played a total of 24 games 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. Croker played in both finals games as Newcastle were eliminated in the second week of the finals by the

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 ...

2024

Croker played 17 games for Newcastle in 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 8th and qualified for the finals. They were eliminated in the first week of the finals by North Queensland. On 2 October, Croker re-signed with the club on a one year deal.

2025

On 12 May, the Newcastle outfit announced Croker had re-signed with the club for a further two years.

Statistics

Personal life

Croker is currently the lead host and face of the 257 Collective podcast with fellow NRL players

Kalyn Ponga Kalyn Ponga (born 30 March 1998) is a professional rugby league footballer who captains and plays as a for the Newcastle Knights in the National Rugby League and Queensland rugby league team, Queensland in the State of Origin series. He is the ...

and Connor Watson.

References

External links

Newcastle Knights profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Croker, Mat 1999 births Living people Australian people of Chilean descent Sportspeople of Chilean descent Australian rugby league players Newcastle Knights players Rugby league players from New South Wales Rugby league props People from the Mid North Coast 21st-century Australian sportsmen