Nick Meaney (born 10 September 1997) is an Australian 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 who plays as a and er for the

Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm is a rugby league club based in Melbourne, 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 blue jersey with gold and white t ...

in the

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 ...

. He previously played for the

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, th ...

and

Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilit ...

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 ...

Background

Meaney was born in

Lismore, New South Wales, Australia Lismore is a city in northeastern New South Wales, Australia and the main population centre in the City of Lismore Local government in Australia, local government area; it is also a regional centre in the Northern Rivers region of the State. It ...

. He is the grandson of former

Manly Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rug ...

and

Western Suburbs Magpies The Western Suburbs Magpies (legal name: Western Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club Ltd) are an Australian rugby league football club based in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Formed in 1908, Wests, as they are commonly r ...

player Denis Meaney. Meaney was educated at

St John's College, Woodlawn , motto_translation = Hold fast to the traditions , established = , founders = Marist Fathers , location = Woodlawn Road, , Northern Rivers, New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinates = , pushpin_map = Australia New South Wales ...

. He played his junior rugby league for the

Ballina Seagulls Ballina Seagulls Rugby League Football Club is an Australian rugby league football club based in Ballina, New South Wales formed in the late 1920s. The club has both junior and senior teams. Team of the century To coincide with the centenary o ...

, before being signed by the

Playing career

Early years

In 2016, Meaney played for the Newcastle Knights'

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, being named their NYC Player of the Year, before graduating to their

Intrust Super Premiership 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 reserv ...

team in 2017. In May 2017, he was named 19th man for the New South Wales Residents in their clash against the

Queensland Residents The Queensland Residents rugby league team is a representative rugby league team consisting of players who compete in the Intrust Super Cup (Queensland Cup) competition. They currently play an annual fixture against NSW Cup Representative Team ...

. Later that same month, he played for the

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

under-20s team against the

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

under-20s team. At the end of the 2017 season, he was awarded the Knights' ISP NSW Player of the Year. In September 2017, he re-signed with the Knights on a 1-year contract until the end of 2018.

2018: Newcastle Knights

Meaney suffered an ankle injury in the first round of the Knights' Intrust Super Premiership NSW campaign, facing a lengthy recovery period, before returning in round 12. With new recruit

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 NRL. He played for the North Queensland Cowboys in the National Rugby League, New Zealand Māori at int ...

establishing himself as the Knights' first-choice fullback, Meaney signed a 3-year contract with the

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facili ...

starting in 2019, looking for a better opportunity to play first-grade. In round 18 of the

2018 NRL season The 2018 NRL season was the 111th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 21st season run by the National Rugby League. The main competition, known as the 2018 Telstra Premiership due to sponsorship from Telstra, featured 16 te ...

, he made his

debut for the Knights 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. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and thei ...

, after a

hamstring In human anatomy, a hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in between the hip and the knee (from medial to lateral: semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris). The hamstrings are susceptible to injury. In quadrup ...

injury to Ponga. He went on to play 5 games in his debut year, scoring two tries and kicking one goal, his final game for the Knights, playing at fullback in his side's 14-24 loss against the

St. George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George, Sydney, St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since NR ...

in round 25.

2019 - 2021: Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs

In round 25 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 ...

, Meaney scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wi ...

and kicked 5 goals as Canterbury defeated Brisbane 30-14 at

ANZ Stadium ANZ may refer to: People * Anz (musician), a British DJ and electronic musician Banks * ANZ (bank), Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, the fourth-largest bank in Australia ** ANZ Bank New Zealand, the largest bank in New Zealand ** ...

in the last match of the season. Canterbury missed out on the finals finishing 12th on the table. Meaney made 16 appearances for Canterbury 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 finished as the side's top point scorer. The club finished in 15th place on the table, only avoiding the

Wooden Spoon Wooden Spoon may refer to: * Wooden spoon, implement * Wooden spoon (award) ** Australian rugby league wooden spooners ** County Championship Wooden Spoons ** List of Australian Football League wooden spoons The wooden spoon is the imaginar ...

by for and against. Midway through 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 ...

, Meaney signed a contract to join

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

starting in the 2022 season. In the final round of the

, Meaney scored two tries for Canterbury in a 38-0 victory over 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 a season where the Bulldogs finished 16th..

2022 - present: Melbourne Storm

Meaney made his debut for the Storm in Round 1 of the

2022 NRL season The 2022 NRL season is 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 s ...

, against

which ended in a win at

Bankwest Stadium Western Sydney Stadium, commercially known as Commonwealth Bank, CommBank Stadium, is a multi-purpose rectangular stadium in Parramatta, within the Greater Western Sydney region, approximately west of Sydney CBD. It replaced the demolished Pa ...

. He had his club debut jersey (cap number 218) presented to him by

Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm are a rugby league club based in Melbourne, Victoria in Australia that participates in the National Rugby League. The first fully professional rugby league team based in the state, the Storm entered the competition in 1998 ...

teammate

Cameron Munster Cameron Munster (born 13 September 1994) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a for the Melbourne Storm in the NRL and Australia at international level. Munster has played for Queensland in the State of Orig ...

. Meaney would be named joint winner of the club's Best Back award for 2022, in a tie with

Ryan Papenhuyzen Ryan Papenhuyzen (born 10 June 1998) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a for the Melbourne Storm of the National Rugby League (NRL) in Australia. He is a NRL premiership winning player of 2020. Early life Papen ...

References

External links

Canterbury Bulldogs profileNewcastle Knights profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meaney, Nick 1997 births Living people Australian rugby league players Newcastle Knights players Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from Lismore, New South Wales Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players Melbourne Storm players Rugby league wingers Rugby league five-eighths