Nathaniel Neale


Nathaniel Neale is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer. He previously played for the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the National Rugby League. He primarily plays as a and second-rower.

Background

Neal was born and raised in Westmere central Auckland, New Zealand.
He played his junior football for the Ponsonby Ponies Under 21s team before being signed by the New Zealand Warriors.

Playing career

He played for the Warriors' NYC team in 2008 before moving on to the Warriors' New South Wales Cup team, Auckland Vulcans in 2009. At this time, he was also aligned with Auckland Rugby League club, Mount Albert Lions.
Wanting to further his professional Rugby league career, Neale signed a 2-year contract with the Ipswich Jets in the Queensland Cup starting in 2011. He made his debut in Round 1 of 2011 under coaches Ben Walker 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 Ipswich Jets. In Neale's third year at the Ipswich Jets 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 South Sydney Rabbitohs starting in 2014.
In Round 3 of the 2014 NRL season, Neale made his NRL debut for the Rabbitohs against the Wests Tigers.

Representative career

In 2013, Neale played for the Queensland Residents.