Matthew Groat (born 4 March 1992) 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 last played for the Souths Logan Magpies in the

Queensland Cup The Queensland Cup, currently known as the Hostplus Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level regional rugby league, rugby league football competition in Queensland, Australia. It is run by the Queensland Rugby League, Queensland Rugby ...

. He previously played for Thirlmere Roosters in the Group 6 Rugby League, St. George Illawarra Dragons,

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 ...

and

Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...

, and the

Dewsbury Rams The Dewsbury Rams are a professional rugby league club based in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, England that compete in RFL League 1, League One, the third tier of British rugby league system, British rugby league. History 1875–1887: Dewsbury Athl ...

in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

. He also played in the Queensland Cup for the Wynnum-Manly Seagulls and Easts Tigers. He played as a .

Playing career

Early years

From the small town of Rankins Springs in the

Riverina The Riverina () is an agricultural list of regions in Australia, region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, a climate with significant seaso ...

, Groat lived on a 6000ha property. He went to school in

Griffith Griffith may refer to: People * Griffith (name) * Griffith (surname) * Griffith (given name) Places Antarctica * Mount Griffith, Ross Dependency * Griffith Peak (Antarctica), Marie Byrd Land * Griffith Glacier, Marie Byrd Land * Griffith Ridge, ...

, before becoming a student at renowned rugby league school

St Gregory's College, Campbelltown St Gregory's College Campbelltown (abbreviated as SGC or Greg's or St Greg's) is an Independent school, independent Catholic Single-sex school, single-sex and Mixed-sex education, co-educational comprehensive and specialist Primary school, prim ...

. During his time at the school, he was named as the most valuable player for his team at the 2010 Australian Schoolboys Championships, and represented the Australian Schoolboys team in 2009 and 2010. In 2011, he was named in the Junior Kangaroos team.

Wests Tigers

Groat joined the Wests Tigers NYC Cup team in 2011. By round 12 he had progressed to making his début in first grade, after a late injury to Wade McKinnon. Having already played a lower-grade game, Groat came off the bench in the last 5 minutes. Later in the season, Groat became a regular in the first side, playing off the bench. Wests Tigers won 8 of the 10 games he played in 2011. In an early-season match in 2012, Groat was knocked unconscious by a shoulder charge from

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 ...

forward

Ben Te'o Ben Te'o (born 27 January 1987) is a former professional rugby union and rugby league footballer who last played as a er for the Brisbane Broncos in the National Rugby League, NRL and is currently an assistant coach at the Broncos. He previous ...

. The incident was considered a "test case" on how the NRL Judiciary would treat players who made contact with the head when attempting a shoulder-charge. Two weeks later Groat played for

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 ...

in the inaugural under-20s State of Origin match, but he failed to make a further first grade appearance for the season. Groat was unable to play at the start of 2013 due to injury. Coach Mick Potter said, "Matt got his ankle, foot and toe caught in the ground and got some weight on the back of it. He had been working hard and his shape was looking better too." He didn't play any first grade in 2013.

St. George Illawarra Dragons

In September 2013, it was announced that Groat had signed with the Dragons for at least one season. He failed to make any first-grade appearances for the club, and a year later signed with

Salford Salford ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former Salford Town Hall, town hall, ...

Doncaster

On 16 April 2015, Groat signed for English side Doncaster.

Dewsbury

On 29 January 2016, Groat was released by Doncaster and signed with Dewsbury.

Central Queensland

In 2017, Groat returned to Australia and signed with

side the

Central Queensland Capras The Central Queensland Capras are a semi-professional rugby league football club primarily based in Rockhampton, Queensland and representing Central Queensland. They play in the Hostplus Cup in Queensland, which is a second-tier competition in ...

. On 16 January 2018, Groat was released by Central Queensland and signed with the Easts Tigers.

Easts Tigers

Groat made a total of eight appearances for Easts in his first season at the club scoring no tries.

Wynnum Manly

In the 2019 Queensland Cup, Groat played for

Wynnum Manly Seagulls The Wynnum Manly Seagulls are an Australian rugby league football club based at Kougari Oval, in Brisbane's bayside suburb of Manly West, Queensland, Manly West, which neighbours the suburb of Wynnum, Queensland, Wynnum. They competed in the Bri ...

where he made 15 appearances.

Souths Logan

In the 2020 Queensland Cup, Groat played for Souths Logan Magpies making one appearance.

Personal life

Groat has studied a Certificate 4 in Fitness.

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Groat, Matt 1992 births Living people Australian rugby league players Balmain Ryde-Eastwood Tigers players Central Queensland Capras players Dewsbury Rams players Doncaster R.L.F.C. players Illawarra Cutters players Junior Kangaroos players Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby league props Wests Tigers NSW Cup players Wests Tigers players People educated at St Gregory's College, Campbelltown 21st-century Australian sportsmen Australian expatriate rugby league players in England