Shaquai Mitchell (born 19 March 1996) 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

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney District Rugby League Football Club, also known as the South Sydney Rabbitohs, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra, New South Wales, Maroubra that competes in the Nat ...

in the

National Rugby League 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 ...

Background

Mitchell was part of 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 ...

under 20s system where he won an

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 ...

title in 2014 with his younger brother Latrell. Mitchell has played for the

Wyong Roos The Wyong Rugby League Football Club are an Australian rugby league club based on the Central Coast (New South Wales), Central Coast of New South Wales. The club competed in the New South Wales Cup from 2013 to 2018 and still competes in the Cen ...

in the

NSW 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 reserve ...

, with a playing weight of 175 kg in 2018. As of 2022 Mitchell has dropped over 25 kg and training with the South Sydney Rabbitohs with a goal to play in the NRL, following his Indigenous All Stars debut. He is of

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

descent from the

Birrbay The Birrbay people, also spelt Birpai, Biripi, Birippi and variant spellings, are an Aboriginal Australian people of New South Wales. They share a dialect continuum with the Worimi people. Language The Gathang language (aka Gadjang or Worimi) ...

and

Wiradjuri The Wiradjuri people (; ) are a group of Aboriginal Australian people from central New South Wales, united by common descent through kinship and shared traditions. They survived as skilled hunter-fisher-gatherers, in family groups or clans, a ...

people.

Playing career

Mitchell made his debut for the Indigenous All Stars in the

2022 All Stars match The 2022 All Stars match was the eleventh annual representative exhibition All Stars match of Australian rugby league. The match was played between the Indigenous All Stars and the Māori All Stars at CommBank Stadium on 12 February 2022. Me ...

. In round 8 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 ...

, he made his first grade debut for South Sydney against

Manly-Warringah The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Manly club debuted in the 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League seaso ...

at the

Central Coast Stadium Central Coast Stadium is a sports venue in Gosford, on the Central Coast, New South Wales, Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia. From the establishment of the first venue at the site in 1915 it was known as Waterside Park, being renam ...

which ended in a 40–22 victory. In round 8 2022, Mitchell made his

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 ...

debut for South Sydney against the

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Manly club debuted in the 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League sea ...

2023

Mitchell played eleven games for South Sydney 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 ...

as they finished 9th on the table and missed the finals. On 24 September 2023, Mitchell played for South Sydney in their 2023 NSW Cup grand final victory over

North Sydney North Sydney is a suburb and commercial district on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. And is the administrative centre for the local government area of North Sydney Council. History The Indigenous people on the s ...

2024

Mitchell played six matches for South Sydney 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 ...

as they finished 16th on the table. On 23 September 2024, Mitchell signed a one year extension with the club.

Statistics

source:

References

External links

South Sydney Rabbitohs profileIndigenous All Stars profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Shaquai 1996 births Living people Australian rugby league players Indigenous Australian rugby league players 21st-century Indigenous Australian people Rugby league players from Taree Rugby league props South Sydney Rabbitohs players 21st-century Australian sportsmen