Zachary Cini (born 24 May 2000) 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 or for the

Castleford Tigers The Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England. They play their home games at Wheldon Road (currently known as the Mend-A-Hose Jungle for sponsorship reasons) and compete in the Super League, t ...

in the

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

. He has previously played for

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

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

Cini was 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 ...

and is of Maltese descent. Cini played his junior rugby league for the Minchinbury Jets. He later said, "I grew up supporting the Tigers. I loved Benji in 2005 and I used to sit in the lounge room watching him on TV. When he played the grand final I was five and I used to go out into the yard and try to practise the Benji step."

Playing career

Early career

Cini came through 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 ...

junior system playing in their

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 ...

championship winning team of 2018, he was educated at

St Dominic's College, Penrith St Dominic's College is an independent Catholic secondary day school for boys, located in Kingswood, a subset of Penrith, a suburb in Western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. St. Dominic's College was established in 1873 by the Congregation ...

where he made the

Australian Schoolboys rugby league team The Australian Schoolboys rugby league team is the national rugby league football team for secondary school students in Australia. The team competes against counterparts in New Zealand, known as the Junior Kiwis, England, Wales and France amon ...

in that same year.

2021

Cini was named to his debut in round 8 for the Tigers, starting on the wing against the

St. George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons are an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since 1999 after a j ...

away at

WIN Stadium Wollongong Showground, known as WIN Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium located in Wollongong, Australia. The stadium was officially opened in 1911. From 1982 until 1998 it played host to every home match for the Illawa ...

. At the time he was leading the lower

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 ...

competition in post-contact metres, tackle breaks, runs and run metres. He scored a try and had another disallowed as he "starred" in his first game. He said after the match, "I got about 20 tickets for family and my mates organised a bus. I think there was about 50 of them that jumped on the bus and sat in that corner. You could definitely hear them. It is a dream just to play footy but to score on debut with my mates in that corner, just the support they gave was awesome and made it 10 times better."

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...

said, "The flying mullet man from Minchinbury, a mad Wests Tigers fan, became an instant cult hero." Cini played a total of four matches for the

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 ...

as the club finished 13th and missed the finals. In December 2021, Cini was released by the Wests Tigers and he joined

side Newtown.

2022

Before the start of the 2022 NSW Cup season, Cini departed Newtown and signed a contract to join

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 ...

's NSW Cup team.

2023

Cini made no appearances for Parramatta's first grade team in 2023. He would instead play for the clubs NSW Cup side making 20 appearances and scoring eleven tries.

2024

On 21 August, it was announced that Cini would join

in the

on a two-year deal from 2025. Cini made no first-grade appearances for Parramatta in 2024, instead featuring for the club's NSW Cup team.

2025

Cini was assigned squad number 3 for the 2025 season and made his Castleford debut on 9 February against

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

in the

Challenge Cup The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...

. In round 1 of the Super League campaign, Cini scored a try in the Tigers' 19-18 golden point extra-time defeat against

Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers (often abbreviated to Hull KR) are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Craven Park, Hull, Craven Park and compete in Super League, the top tier of B ...

. After beginning the season at left centre, he moved onto the right edge from round 4 in a swap with

Sam Wood Samuel Grosvenor Wood (July 10, 1883 – September 22, 1949) was an American film director and producer who is best known for having directed such Hollywood hits as ''A Night at the Opera (film), A Night at the Opera'', ''A Day at the Races (fi ...

. He scored one try against

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

in round 3,

Leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan ** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency) * Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Pronounced : * Leigh, Dorset * Leigh, Gloucestershire * Leigh, Kent * Leigh, Staffor ...

in round 7, and

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, ...

in round 11.

References

External links

Wests Tigers profileCastleford Tigers profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cini, Zac 2000 births Living people 21st-century Australian sportsmen Australian rugby league players Castleford Tigers players Newtown Jets NSW Cup players Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby league wingers Western Suburbs Magpies NSW Cup players Wests Tigers players People educated at St Dominic's College, Penrith