Ben Spina ( ) (born 26 April 1988) 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 previously played for the

North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest town in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). Sinc ...

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 plays at and .

Background

Born in Sydney while his father, Laurie, was playing for

Eastern Suburbs Eastern Suburbs may refer to: Places *Eastern Suburbs (Mumbai), India *Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Australia **Eastern Suburbs railway line, Sydney, Australia Sports clubs ;Association football *Eastern Suburbs AFC, Auckland, New Zealand * Eastern ...

, Spina grew up in

Ingham, Queensland Ingham is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Hinchinbrook, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Ingham had a population of 4,426 people. It is named after William Bairstow Ingham and is the administrative centre for the Shire o ...

and played his junior football for the Herbert River Crushers before being signed by the

. In 2008, Spina played for the Cowboys'

NYC New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

team. In 2009, Spina joined the

Northern Pride RLFC Northern Pride Rugby League Football Club is a Queensland rugby league club founded in 2007. Based in Cairns, Queensland they compete in the QRL State competition, the Hostplus Cup, formerly the Wizard Queensland Cup. The club represents Fa ...

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 four ...

. In 2011, Spina signed a 3-year contract with the

starting in 2012. In 2012 and 2013, Spina won the

Player of the Year awards. In 2013, Spina played for 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, ...

. In 2014, Spina was again selected for the

, but had to withdraw due to being called up for 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.

Playing career

2014

In Round 17 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 Leagu ...

, Spina made his

debut for North Queensland against St. George Illawarra. Spina was a member of the Northern Pride's Grand Final winning

and 2014 NRL State Championship winning sides. On 9 October 2014, Spina re-signed with the North Queensland club on a one-year contract.

2015

On 10 June 2015, Spina re-signed with North Queensland on a two-year contract.

2016

On 5 May, Spina was named on the interchange bench in QRL journalist Tony Webeck's Queensland Residents team of the past 10 years. He played two games off the bench for the North Queensland club in 2016.

2017

Spina played eight games for North Queensland in 2017, scoring two tries, before suffering a season-ending bicep injury.

2018

After not having his contract renewed by North Queensland, Spina joined the Herbert River Crushers in the Townsville & District Rugby League A Grade competition.

Personal life

Spina is the son of former

player and inaugural captain,

Laurie Spina Laurie Joseph Spina (born 21 May 1963) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer and rugby league commentator. In 1995, Spina was the inaugural captain of the North Queensland Cowboys. Background Born in Ingham, Queensland, ...

, becoming the first father-son duo to play for the Cowboys, and the brother of

Brisbane Roar FC W-League Brisbane Roar Women Football Club, formerly known Queensland Roar Women, is an Australian professional women's football club based in Brisbane, Queensland (founded in 2008). The Roar competes in the country's premier women's soccer competitio ...

player

Ashley Spina Ashley Spina (born 3 October 1992) is an Australian football (soccer) player, who last played for Brisbane Roar in the Australian W-League. Personal life Ashley is the sister of North Queensland Cowboys forward Ben Spina and daughter of North ...

. Spina is an Australian Apprenticeships Ambassador for the Australian Government.

Statistics

NRL

: ''Statistics are correct to the end of the 2017 season''

References

External links

North Queensland Cowboys profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spina, Ben 1988 births Living people Australian rugby league players North Queensland Cowboys players Northern Pride RLFC players People from Ingham, Queensland Queensland Residents rugby league team captains Queensland Residents rugby league team players Rugby league second-rows Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Sydney