Matthew Frawley (born 24 December 1994) 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 or for the

Huddersfield Giants The Huddersfield Giants are an English professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. Huddersfield play their home games at the John Smiths Stadium and compete in Super League, the top tier of British rugby league sy ...

on one-month loan from

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club play their home games at Headingley Rugby Stadium, AMT Headingley Rugby Stadium and compete in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby lea ...

in the

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

. Frawley previously played for the

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 ...

in the NRL and the

in the

Background

Frawley was born in

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

, ACT, Australia. Frawley is of Irish heritage. Frawley played his junior rugby league for the Belconnen United Sharks and

West Belconnen Warriors West Belconnen Warriors Rugby League Club is an Australian rugby league football club based in Belconnen, Australian Capital Territory formed in the mid 1970s. They conduct teams for both junior and senior teams. Notable Juniors *Bradley Clyde ...

, before being signed by the

Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugb ...

Playing career

Early career

In 2013 and 2014, Frawley played for the Canberra Raiders' NYC team, captaining the side in 2014. Frawley had doubts about ever making 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 ...

as Canberra signed

Blake Austin Blake Austin (born 1 February 1991) is a professional rugby league footballer who plays as a for The Entrance Tigers in the Central Coast Division Rugby League in NSW, Australia. Austin previously played for the Canberra Raiders, Penrith Pant ...

. Frawley started selling retail clothes in Canberra before signing a 2-year contract with the

that began in 2015. Matt Frawley

2017

In round 5 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, ...

, Frawley got the call up from coach

Des Hasler Desmond John Hasler (born 16 February 1961) is an Australian professional rugby league coach who is the head coach of the Gold Coast Titans in the National Rugby League and a former player. Primarily a , he initially played for the Penrith Pan ...

and made his

debut for Canterbury against the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...

, due to incumbent half

Moses Mbye Moses Mbye (born 13 August 1993) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays for St Helens in the Super League. Over the course of his career he has played as a and . He previously played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bull ...

being suspended for one-match. Frawley was named in the number 6 jersey. In his second game in the

, he was originally named in the number 20 jersey, coach Des Hasler moved him onto the bench in place of

Raymond Faitala-Mariner Raymond Faitala-Mariner (born 26 July 1993) is a professional rugby league footballer who plays as a forward for the St. George Illawarra Dragons in the National Rugby League (NRL). He has played for both Samoa and New Zealand at internationa ...

. He came on late in the first half in place of injured

Brad Abbey Brad Abbey (born 30 December 1996) is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who plays for the Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles in the NSW Cup. Abbey previously played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, Canberra Raiders and Sydney ...

, and in the first set of the second half scored a try, his first in the

. He also came up with a try assist, with a cut out pass to send Josh Morris over in the corner. In round 6 against

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 ...

, Frawley was named in the number 20 jersey, he was later named on the bench in place of Raymond Faitala-Mariner. Frawley didn't get on the field in the first half, though when Brad Abbey fell down with injury, Frawley came on to the field in the second half. He scored a try. He dummied multiple times and put the Bulldogs in the lead. The Bulldogs went on to win 22-12. In round 9, Frawley played his former side, Canberra with Canterbury winning the game 16-10. He had to take control as Josh Reynolds got injured, and was ruled out until round 14. Frawley scored his second career try in Round 11 against the

Sydney Roosters Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...

, almost completing his team's comeback.

2018

Frawley started the 2018 season as Canterbury's first choice , but was demoted to reserve grade by coach

Dean Pay Dean Pay (born 3 June 1969) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer and former head coach of the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the National Rugby League (NRL), a professional player who played in the late 1980s and 1990s ...

after 2 games. After spending 7 weeks in reserve grade, Frawley was recalled to Canterbury's NRL side for their round 9 game against Brisbane. On 27 August, Frawley was one of the players announced to be departing the club at the end of the season after his contract was not renewed. It was announced on 28 October 2018 that Frawley had signed for

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees 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 confl ...

in the

2019

On 10 December, it was announced that Frawley had signed a one-year development contract with

side

for 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 ...

2020

In round 20 of the

, Frawley made and scored a try on his debut for the

in the role of five-eighth, against Cronulla-Sutherland in their final game of the 2020 regular season.

2021

Frawley made only five appearances for Canberra 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 ...

which saw the club finish a disappointing 10th on the table.

2022

Frawley made eight appearances for Canberra 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 8th on the table and qualified for the finals. Frawley did not play in either of Canberra's finals matches.

2023

Frawley kicked his first two-point field goal (a field goal kicked from outside the opposition's 40-metre zone) in the round 4 match against

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

. Frawley played a total of eight games for Canberra 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 ...

including the clubs elimination finals loss to Newcastle. On 10 September, it was announced that Frawley would be joining English side

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

on a two-year deal starting in 2024.

2024

Frawley played 25 games for Leeds in the 2024 Super League which saw the club finish 8th on the table.

2025

On 18 June 2025 it was reported that he had signed for

in the

on one-month loan

Career statistics

https://www.nrl.com/players/nrl-premiership/raiders/matt-frawley/

References

Notes

External links

Canberra Raiders profileHuddersfield Giants profileSL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frawley, Matt 1994 births Living people 21st-century Australian sportsmen Australian people of Irish descent Australian rugby league players Australian expatriate rugby league players in England Canberra Raiders players Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players Huddersfield Giants players Leeds Rhinos players Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league halfbacks Rugby league players from Canberra