Bodene Thompson (born 1 August 1988) is a New Zealand 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 forward for

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is predom ...

in the

RFL Championship The Championship, known as the Betfred Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a professional rugby league competition. It is the Rugby Football League Championship Second Division, second-tier competition organised by the Rugby Football Lea ...

. He previously played for the

Gold Coast Titans The Gold Coast Titans are a professional rugby league football club, based on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australia and New Zealand's national rugby league club competition. The ...

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional Rugby league, 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 j ...

and the

New Zealand Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as ...

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 ...

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club was formed in 1870 as Leeds St John's and play in the Super League, the top tier of English rugby league. They have played home matches at Headi ...

Warrington Wolves The Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England, that competes in the Super League. They play rugby at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, having moved there from Wilderspool in 2004. Founded as Warrington Z ...

in the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

Leigh Centurions The Leigh Leopards are a professional rugby league club based in Leigh, Greater Manchester, England, who compete in the Betfred Super League. The club was founded in 1878, and is one of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern R ...

in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

Toronto Wolfpack The Toronto Wolfpack are a Canadian professional rugby league club based in Toronto, Ontario, who compete in the North American Rugby League. The club originally competed in the British rugby league system but withdrew in the 2020 Super Leagu ...

in both

and the

and also spent time on loan from

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

in the

. He previously represented New Zealand Māori at international level.

Background

Thompson was born in

Tauranga Tauranga () is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty region and the fifth most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of , or roughly 3% of the national population. It was settled by Māori late in the 13th century, colonised by ...

, New Zealand. He is of

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

descent.

Playing career

Early career

A Tauranga City Sharks junior, Thompson played first grade alongside his stepdad when aged only 16. He then moved to Australia with his family and attended Keebra Park High. In 2008 he played for the Gold Coast Titans Toyota Cup (Under-20s) team.

Gold Coast Titans

Thompson made his

debut for the Gold Coast Titans in Round 9, 2009, making 3 appearances from the bench that year. He made 17 appearances in 2010, including 2 semis, and signed a deal with the club that lasted until the end of the 2014 season. Bodene Thompson

Wests Tigers

Thompson was released from the Titans in 2012 and signed a two-year deal with rival club Wests Tigers commencing in 2013. Having knocked back an offer to join the Tigers in 2007, Thompson had said, "I had the (Wests Tigers) offer there (in 2007) but I'm a family man and like to be around my family. We had only just moved over so I didn't want to shoot off somewhere else as soon as we got here." Thompson felt compelled to change clubs as he was behind Greg Bird,

Ashley Harrison Ashley Harrison (born 18 May 1981) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a in the 2000s and 2010s. He played for the Gold Coast Titans of the NRL. A Queensland State of Origin representative lock forwar ...

and

Nate Myles Nate Myles (born 24 June 1985) is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s, he last played for the Melbourne Storm in the National Rugby League. A Queensland State of Origin and Australia national represen ...

for a spot in the back-row. Thompson played in 15 games for the Wests Tigers in 2013. He mostly played in the second-row, but finished the season in the centres.

New Zealand Warriors

On 1 November 2014, Thompson signed a 3-year contract with the

starting in 2015.

Leigh Centurions

Thompson joined the Leigh Centurions ahead of the 2018 RFL Championship season.

Warrington Wolves

He stepped up in to the

European Super League The European Super League (ESL), officially The Super League, was a proposed seasonal club football competition that initially would have been contested by twenty European football clubs, twelve of them being the competition's founding members. ...

and joined the Warrington Wolves in the middle of the 2018 Super League season. He played in the

2018 Super League Grand Final The 2018 Super League Grand Final was the 21st official Grand Final and championship-deciding game of Super League XXIII. It was held at Old Trafford in Manchester on 13 October 2018, kick off 18.00. The final was contested by Warrington Wolves a ...

defeat by the

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors are a professional rugby league club in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Super League. Formed in 1872 as Wigan Football Club, Wigan was a founding member of the Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby ...

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

Toronto Wolfpack

Thompson dropped back down to the Championship with the Toronto Wolfpack ahead of the 2019 RFL Championship season. He was promoted with the Wolfpack at the end of the 2019 season.

Leeds Rhinos loan

Thompson spent the last three months of the season on loan from Toronto after the Super League club experienced financial difficulties as a result of the Global Coronavirus pandemic.

Leeds permanent switch

He signed a two-year contract with Leeds ahead of the 2021 Super League season. In round 16 of the 2022 Super League season, Thompson was sent to the sin bin for a dangerous tackle during Leeds 42–12 loss against St Helens. On 24 September 2022, Thompson played for Leeds in their 24–12 loss to

St Helens RFC St Helens R.F.C. is a professional rugby league club in St Helens, Merseyside who compete in the Super League, the top tier for rugby league in Great Britain. They are the current Champions, having won the last 4 consecutive titles, and becom ...

in the 2022 Super League Grand Final.

Bradford Bulls

On 25 October 2022 it was announced that he had signed a one-year deal with

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

International career

Thompson played for the New Zealand Māori in 2010 against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He was named in the New Zealand Māori squad for a match against the

New Zealand Residents The New Zealand Residents (also previously known as New Zealand 'A', New Zealand XIII, the Lion Red Cup XIII and currently known as the Bartercard Premiership Selection) are a New Zealand rugby league football representative side that is selected f ...

on 15 October 2016.

Controversy

On 2 May 2016, The New Zealand Herald reported five players were stood down from an international test match for mixing prescription drugs with energy drinks on a night out. The recipe can emulate the effect of illicit drugs. Thompson was one of the players named who was stood down alongside

Manu Vatuvei Manu Mapuhola Mafi-Vatuvei (born 4 March 1986), also known by the nickname "The Beast", is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer and convicted methamphetamine importer who was both a Tonga and New Zealand international repres ...

Ben Matulino Ben Andrew Matulino (born 3 January 1989) is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s as a or . He played for the New Zealand Warriors and the Wests Tigers in the National Rugby League, NRL, ...

Sam Lisone Sam Lisone (born 19 February 1994), also known by the nickname of "Slammin'", is a Samoa international rugby league footballer who plays as a for the Leeds Rhinos in the Super League. He previously played for the New Zealand Warriors and the ...

and

Albert Vete Albert Vete ( to, ʻAlipate Vete) (born 24 January 1993) is a Tonga international rugby league footballer who plays as a and for Castleford Tigers in the Betfred Super League. He previously played for the New Zealand Warriors and the Melbour ...

. On September 11, 2017, Thompson's former partner Belinda Medlyn alleged she had group sex sessions with Thompson and his teammates. The allegations came to public knowledge after a dispute over finances to raise their child became apparent. Thompson accused Medlyn of threatening to expose the story unless he gave her $50,000.

Boxing

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Paul Gallen Paul Gallen (born 14 August 1981) is an Australian professional boxer and former professional rugby league footballer who played as a and forward and captained the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in the NRL to their maiden NRL Premiership in 2016. ...

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References

External links

Leeds Rhinos profile

Toronto Wolfpack profileLeigh Centurions profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Bodene 1988 births Living people Bradford Bulls players Gold Coast Titans players Leeds Rhinos players Leigh Leopards players New Zealand Māori rugby league team players New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand Warriors players People educated at Keebra Park State High School Rugby league centres Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Tauranga Toronto Wolfpack players Warrington Wolves players Wests Tigers players