Daniel Atkinson (born 15 January 2001) is an Italy international

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 or for the

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Cronulla, in the Sutherland Shire, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugby league ...

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 ...

(NRL). He previously played for the

Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm are a rugby league club based in Melbourne, Victoria in Australia that participates in the National Rugby League. The first fully professional rugby league team based in the state, the Storm entered the competition in 1998. ...

in the NRL.

Early life

Atkinson was born in

Brisbane, Queensland Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

and was educated at

St Joseph's College, Nudgee , motto_translation = A Sign of Faith , location = Boondall, Queensland , country = Australia , coordinates = , other_name = St. Joseph's Nudgee College , former_name ...

. Atkinson is of

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

descent. He played junior rugby league for the Albany Creek Crushers, before signing with

Norths Devils The Northern Suburbs Devils, or North Brisbane Devils, or often simply referred to as Norths for short, are a rugby league club representing the northern suburbs of Brisbane, Australia. The team colours are sky blue, navy blue and gold. They pl ...

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 ...

Colts competition in 2019.

Playing career

Early career

Ahead of the 2020 season, Atkinson was signed by the

to a development contract and allocated to play for the

Brisbane Tigers The Brisbane Tigers are a rugby league club based at Langlands Park, in the suburb of Coorparoo in Brisbane, Australia. Since 1996, they have competed in the Queensland Cup, having competed in the Brisbane Rugby League from 1934 to 1997, where ...

, making his Tigers' debut in the opening game of the

2021 Queensland Cup The 2021 Queensland Cup season was the 26th season of Queensland's top-level statewide rugby league competition run by the Queensland Rugby League. The 2021 season saw the return of the competition, after it was cancelled after just one round i ...

season. Atkinson also played a number of games for the Victorian Thunderbolts in the

Jersey Flegg Cup The Jersey Flegg Cup is a junior rugby league competition played in New South Wales, contested among teams made up of players aged 21 or under. The competition is administered by the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL), and is named for Easter ...

Melbourne Storm

In round 25 of 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 ...

, Atkinson made his debut off the bench for

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

against

where they won 28–16. He had his Melbourne jersey (cap number 216) presented to him by Melbourne Storm teammate

Dale Finucane Dale Finucane (born 7 September 1991), is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a or for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in the NRL. Finucane previously played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and Melbourne Stor ...

and Football Manager Frank Ponissi. At the end of the 2021 NRL season, Atkinson was released by Melbourne. In November 2021 he signed to play with the

Sunshine Coast Falcons The Sunshine Coast Falcons are a rugby league football team based on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. They compete in the Queensland Cup and their home ground is Sunshine Coast Stadium. The Falcons are currently affiliated with the NRL team Melb ...

in the

. He would play the entire 2022 season with the Falcons.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks

Atkinson signed a contract to join the

squad for the

2023 NRL season The 2023 NRL season is the 116th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 26th season run by the National Rugby League. Teams For the 2023 season, the number of teams in the NRL has increased from sixteen to seventeen with the ...

, later extending for two further years. Atkinson’s first NRL appearance for Cronulla, and his first top-grade appearance in two years, came as he served as an injury replacement player during the final 3 minutes of the Sharks’ round 15 fixture. In round 10 of the 2024 NRL season, Atkinson led his team to a 25-18 point win over rivals and former club, Melbourne Storm, without star halves partner Nicho Hynes. He kicked a field goal in the 74th minute to extend their lead and seal the win for Cronulla ending a six-year losing streak in Melbourne.https://www.nrl.com/news/2024/05/12/remember-me-atkinson-returns-to-melbourne-to-sink-storm/

International career

Atkinson made his international rugby league debut for

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

at the

2021 Rugby League World Cup The 2021 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC2021) was a collection of world cups in the sport of rugby league, held in England from 15 October to 19 November 2022. England won hosting rights for the competition on 27 October 2016. The bid received £2 ...

on 16 October 2022, playing in Italy's 28–4 win over

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Statistics

References

External links

Rugby League Project profileQRL profile18th Man profileItaly profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atkinson, Daniel 2001 births Living people Australian rugby league players Italy national rugby league team players Melbourne Storm players Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks players Rugby league players from Brisbane Sunshine Coast Falcons players Eastern Suburbs Tigers players People educated at St Joseph's College, Nudgee