Nathaniel Neale (born 16 September 1988) is a New Zealand professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer. He previously played for the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian rugby league club based in Redfern, New South Wales, Redfern, a suburb of inner-southern Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and are ...

in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

. He primarily plays as a and second-rower.

Background

Neal was born and raised in Westmere, a central suburb of

Auckland, New Zealand Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about It ...

. He played for the

Ponsonby Ponies The Ponsonby Ponies are a rugby league club based in Ponsonby, New Zealand. The club was founded in 1908 and was originally named Ponsonby United. The Ponies compete in the Auckland Rugby League competition and are the oldest rugby league club in ...

Under 21s team before being signed by the

New Zealand Warriors The New Zealand 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 ...

Playing career

He played for the Warriors'

NYC New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

team in 2008 before moving on to the Warriors'

New South Wales 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 reserv ...

team,

Auckland Vulcans The Auckland Vulcans were an Auckland based rugby league club that participated in the New South Wales Cup. They were administered by the Rugby League Development Foundation. The team was selected from the Auckland Rugby League's Fox Memorial C ...

in 2009. At this time, he was also aligned with the

Auckland Rugby League The Auckland Rugby League (ARL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league in the Auckland Region of New Zealand. It is responsible for rugby league in the region, including both club and school rugby league. It began in 1910 when the fir ...

club,

Mount Albert Lions The Mount Albert Lions are a rugby league club based in Mount Albert, New Zealand. The Lions home ground is at Fowlds Park. Their patron is the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Helen Clark. In 2008 and 2009 the Lions won the Fox Memorial. ...

. Wanting to further his professional

Rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

career, Neale signed a 2-year contract with the

Ipswich Jets The Ipswich Jets are an Australian rugby league football club based in Ipswich, Queensland. Their name comes from nearby RAAF Base Amberley, one of the largest airbases in Australia. The Jets compete in the Queensland Cup competition. Original ...

in the

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

starting in 2011. He made his debut in Round 1 of 2011 under coaches

Ben Walker Ben Walker (born 13 September 1976) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. A or halfback, he played in Australia's National Rugby League for the Brisbane Broncos, Northern Eagles, Manl ...

and Shane Walker. It was not long before Neale made his mark in the competition and was regularly nominated as the team's best. In his second year at the club, Neale continued to prove an asset to the team. At the end of 2012, Neale was rewarded with the top award, the Alan Langer Medal for "best and fairest" and signed on for a third year at the

. In Neale's third year at the

he earned the top 2 awards for the club, the Alan Langer Medal and the Players' Player award. In October 2013, Neale signed a 1-year contract with the

starting in 2014. In Round 3 of the

2014 NRL season The 2014 NRL season was the 107th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 17th season of the National Rugby League in Australia and New Zealand. The season started in New Zealand, for the Auckland Nines, replacing the Rugby League ...

, Neale made his

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

debut for the Rabbitohs against the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West and South West Sydney. They have competed in the National Rugby League since being formed at the end of the 1999 NRL season as a joint-venture ...

. In 2016 Neale joined the Ipswich Jets in the Intrust Super Cup (Now Hotplus Cup) Neale joined Ipswich Jets

Representative career

In 2013, Neale played for the Queensland Residents. In 2017, Neale played for Queensland Residents In 2019, Neale played Prop for Queensland Residents in their 42-22 win over NSW Residents

References

External links

2014 South Sydney Rabbitohs profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neale, Nathaniel 1988 births Living people Auckland rugby league team players Ipswich Jets players New Zealand rugby league players Mount Albert Lions players North Sydney Bears NSW Cup players Rugby league props Rugby league players from Auckland Rugby league second-rows South Sydney Rabbitohs players