Mitchell Kenny (born 15 January 1998) 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 for the

Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Greater Western Sydney suburb of Penrith, New South Wales, Penrith that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL). The team is based west of the cen ...

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 is a NRL premiership winning player of 2022, 2023 and 2024

Early life

Born in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

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 ...

, Kenny grew up in the suburb of McGraths Hill and was educated at Arndell Anglican College, Oakville. Kenny played junior rugby league for

Windsor Wolves The Windsor Wolves are a rugby league team based in the town of Windsor, New South Wales. The club fields both junior and senior teams in the Penrith District Rugby League competitions. The club has fielded teams in semi-professional, New Sout ...

before being selected for the Penrith Panthers under-17 development squad. Kenny also played

SG Ball 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 ...

with Penrith, winning various matches throughout that year, including the national under-18's championship. He started to move his way up through the ranks of Penrith, playing with the under-20s team for two years and then moving onto their

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 ...

squad.

Career

2019

Kenny made his first grade debut in round 11 of the

2019 NRL season The 2019 NRL season was the 112th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 22nd season run by the National Rugby League. The Sydney Roosters became the first team to win back-to-back Premierships since the Brisbane Broncos in 1992 ...

for Penrith in their 16–10 victory over 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 ...

at the new

Western Sydney Stadium Western Sydney Stadium, currently known as CommBank Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in the suburb of Parramatta, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It replaced the demolished Parramatta Stadium (1986) which in turn ...

2020

Kenny was limited to only six games for Penrith in 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 ...

and missed on playing in the clubs Grand Final loss to the

Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm is a rugby league football club based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia that participates in the National Rugby League (NRL). The club plays its home games at AAMI Park, and wears a purple and navy blu ...

2021

Kenny played 18 games for Penrith 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 ...

but missed out on playing in Penrith's

2021 NRL Grand Final The 2021 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2021 National Rugby League season in Australia. It was contested between the Penrith Panthers and the South Sydney Rabbitohs on Sunday 3 October at Suncorp Stadi ...

victory over South Sydney due to an injury he sustained during the clubs victory over the

in the semi-final.

2022

Ahead of 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 ...

, Kenny re-signed with the Penrith Panthers until the end of the 2024 season. During round 4 of the 2022 season, he scored his first NRL try in Penrith's 32–12 victory over 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 ...

at Western Sydney Stadium. Kenny played 24 games for Penrith throughout the season including the

2022 NRL Grand Final The 2022 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2022 National Rugby League season in Australia. It was contested between the Penrith Panthers and the Parramatta Eels on Sunday the 2nd of October at Accor Stad ...

victory over

Parramatta Parramatta (; ) is a suburb (Australia), suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney. Parramatta is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, on the banks of the Parramatta River. It is co ...

2023

On 18 February, Kenny played in Penrith's 13–12 upset loss to

St Helens RFC St Helens R.F.C., commonly known as Saints, is a professional rugby league club in St Helens, Merseyside, England. Founded in 1873, the club is one of the oldest members of the Rugby Football League, and one of the most successful clubs in its ...

in the

2023 World Club Challenge The 2023 World Club Challenge (known as the 2023 Betfred World Club Challenge for sponsorship reasons) was the 29th staging of the World Club Challenge. The match was contested by the NRL winners Penrith Panthers, and Super League champions S ...

. In round 4 of 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 ...

, Kenny was sent to the sin bin during golden point extra-time against Parramatta due to a dangerous high tackle on

Waqa Blake Waqa Blake (born 26 October 1994) is a Fijian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a and for Bradford Bulls in the RFL Championship and at international level. He previously played for the Penrith Panthers and the Parramatta Ee ...

. Parramatta would kick a field goal from the resulting penalty to win 17–16. Kenny played 23 games for Penrith in the 2023 NRL season including the clubs 26–24 victory over Brisbane in the

2023 NRL Grand Final The 2023 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2023 National Rugby League season in Australia. It was contested between the Penrith Panthers and the Brisbane Broncos on Sunday the 1st of October at Stadium Aus ...

as Penrith won their third straight premiership. Kenny scored the opening try of the final. On 26 December, Kenny was placed under investigation by the NRL and Penrith for allegedly posting a picture to his instagram account with the caption "couple Boxing Day lines have got me in trouble". Kenny later took the picture down and posted a caption which read "Happy new year guys. Enjoy... and ignore trolls who grabbed my phone,". The NRL later released a statement saying "The NRL is aware of the matter and will be liaising with the club,".

2024

On 8 February, Kenny was handed with a breach notice by the NRL for his

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

post dating back to December 2023. The NRL released a statement which read “The National Rugby League (NRL) today issued Penrith Panthers player Mitch Kenny with a Breach Notice alleging a breach of the NRL Code of Conduct following an NRL Integrity Unit investigation into a social media post in December, 2023,” the NRL’s statement read. It is alleged Kenny engaged in conduct which has brought the game and his Club into disrepute. Kenny has five business days to respond to the Breach Notice". On 24 February, Kenny played in Penrith's

2024 World Club Challenge The 2024 World Club Challenge was the 30th staging of the World Club Challenge, an annual rugby league match between the reigning champions of the Super League and the National Rugby League. The Wigan Warriors hosted the Penrith Panthers at DW S ...

final loss against

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

. Kenny played a total of 24 matches for Penrith 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 ...

including the clubs 14-6 grand final victory over Melbourne.

Statistics

Stats correct as of the end of the 2024 season

References

External links

Penrith Panthers profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kenny, Mitch 1998 births Living people Australian rugby league players Penrith Panthers captains Penrith Panthers players Rugby league hookers Rugby league players from Sydney 21st-century Australian sportsmen