Greg Eden (born 14 November 1990) is an English 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 er or for the

Castleford Tigers The Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England, that compete in the Super League, the top-level professional rugby league club competition in the Northern Hemisphere. The club have competed i ...

in the

Betfred 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 ...

, and the

England Knights England Knights (previously known as Emerging England and England A) is considered the feeder team for the England rugby league team. The Knights play a key role in the development of emerging talent, allowing players to gain experience in an i ...

at international level. He has previously played for

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the town centre the River Calder joins the ...

, the

Huddersfield Giants Huddersfield Giants are an English professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, the birthplace of rugby league, who play in the Super League competition. They play their home games at the John Smiths Stadium which is sh ...

and

Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England, that competes in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby league. The club has won five league championships, and one Challeng ...

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 ...

, and the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club Ltd., commonly referred to as the Broncos, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos play in Australia's elite com ...

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 also spent time on loan at the

Salford Red Devils The Salford Red Devils are a professional rugby league club in Salford, Greater Manchester, England, who play in the Super League. Formed in 1873, they have won six Championships and one Challenge Cup. Their home ground since 2012 has been t ...

in the Super League while at Hull KR, and on dual registration at the

Gateshead Thunder Gateshead Thunder may refer to: *Gateshead Thunder (1999) Gateshead Thunder was a professional rugby league club founded in 1999 in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England, which competed in the 1999 Super League but then merged with Hull Sharks af ...

in League 1. Eden is renowned for his lightning pace and his prolific finishing ability. He ranks as Castleford's second-highest top tryscorer in the Super League era, and twelfth-highest of all time.

Background

Eden was born in

, West Yorkshire, England.

Club career

Castleford Tigers

Eden made his senior debut for Castleford against the

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 ...

on 1 July 2011, scoring and assisting a try.

Huddersfield Giants

Eden signed for the

from the

in the winter of 2011 and made an immediate impact in the

, establishing himself as first choice at the Huddersfield Giants within weeks of the season beginning. He was rewarded with a long-term deal until the end of the 2015 season.

Hull Kingston Rovers

Eden moved to

in the winter of 2012, signing a three-year deal. He made 39 appearances for the club across 2 seasons, scoring 24 tries.

Salford Red Devils (loan)

On 25 April 2014, Greg Eden joined the

on a 1-month loan deal. In May, this was subsequently extended on a week-by-week basis, with Hull KR able to recall him at any chosen period. The Robins exercised this right in June following a serious injury to fullback Ben Cockayne.

Gateshead Thunder (dual registration)

Eden made 2 appearances for

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

in 2014, through their dual-registration arrangement with Hull KR.

Brisbane Broncos

On 1 September 2014, Eden signed with

, boosting their ranks after the Broncos showed great interest in him. Eden spent the 2015 season with the Broncos affiliate club

Wynnum Manly Seagulls The Wynnum-Manly Seagulls are an Australian rugby league football club based at Kougari Oval, in Brisbane's bayside suburb of Manly West, which neighbours the suburb of Wynnum. They competed in the Brisbane Rugby League from 1951 to 1997. Since ...

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 February 2016, Eden made his Broncos debut in the

World Club Series The World Club Series was an annual rugby league football competition played between clubs from the NRL (Australia and New Zealand) and the Super League (England and France). The competition culminated with the World Club Challenge, a single ma ...

against 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 ...

, scoring a try in a 42–12 win.

Castleford Tigers

In June 2016 Eden agreed upon a 2-year contract with hometown

side

for the upcoming season starting in 2017. Eden was given the squad number 5 prior to the start of the season, and played the majority of matches on Castleford's left wing. He scored 38 Super League tries in his first season back at Castleford, including 5 hat-tricks against

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 ...

twice,

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census had a population of 61,464. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it is on t ...

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, Staf ...

and

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

. Eden topped the try scoring charts and was named in the

Super League Dream Team The Super League Dream Team is an annually-selected rugby league All Star Team consisting of the players deemed to have been the best in their respective positions in the Super League competition. The team is selected by a panel of journalists and ...

for this season. He played at fullback in the

2017 Super League Grand Final The 2017 Super League Grand Final was the 20th official Grand Final championship-deciding game of the Super League XXII. It was held at Old Trafford, Manchester on 7 October 2017, kick off 18.00. Leeds Rhinos became champions for a record 8th t ...

defeat by the

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 ...

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 ...

, after

Zak Hardaker Zak Alexander Hardaker (born 17 October 1991) is an English professional rugby league footballer who plays as a or for the Leigh Leopards in the Super League. He has played for the England Knights, England and Great Britain at international l ...

was suspended two days before the game following a failed drugs test. Eden's excellent strike rate for the Tigers was rewarded with a three-year contract extension in 2018. However, his season was limited to just 15 appearances following a hamstring injury. Despite this, he still scored 18 tries, including 3 hat-tricks against

Catalans Catalans (Catalan language, Catalan, French language, French and Occitan language, Occitan: ''catalans''; es, catalanes, Italian language, Italian: ''catalani'', sc, cadelanos) are a Romance languages, Romance ethnic group native to Cataloni ...

and

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

. In the first match of 2020, Eden scored a trademark length-of-the-field try against

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 ...

, before hyper extending his knee in the second half. He scored a hat-trick against

Hull KR Hull Kingston Rovers are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England, that competes in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby league. The club has won five league championships, and one Challeng ...

and finished the season with 8 tries in 8 appearances. Eden's impressive performances following his return to the team towards the end of an injury-hit 2021 season contributed towards Castleford's improvement in form. He scored a late length-of-the-field interception try on 12 August 2021 to seal Castleford's first league win away to St Helens in 31 years. Eden scored a hat-trick against

Hull FC Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league football club established in 1865 and based in West Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the Super League competition and wer ...

in his first appearance of the 2022 season. He was also voted the Fans' Man of the Match for his first 2 games of the year. He scored his 100th Castleford try on 14 April against

Wakefield Trinity Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, that plays in the Super League. One of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895, between 1999 and 2016 the c ...

in his 94th game for the club.

International career

In September 2012 Eden was selected in the

squad. Eden made his international début for England Knights on 28 October 2012 in the 62-24 Alitalia Cup series 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 ...

at the Meggetland Stadium in Edinburgh.

Career records

Eden scored his 100th try for Castleford on 14 April 2022 against

, becoming the 12th player to achieve this in the club's history and just the 2nd in the Super League era. He reached this figure after just 94 appearances for the Tigers, making him the fastest player to reach a century for the club. Eden's 100 tries for Castleford in 94 appearances places him second for the fastest century at a single club in Super League, behind

Josh Charnley Joshua Charnley (born 26 June 1991) is an English international professional rugby league footballer who plays on the for the Leigh Leopards in the Super League. He previously played for the Warrington Wolves and Wigan Warriors, with whom he w ...

's 100 in 91 games for the

. Castleford's most tries scored in a match record is 5-tries, and is jointly held by; Derek Foster against

Hunslet Hunslet () is an inner-city area in south Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is southeast of the Leeds city centre, city centre and has an industrial past. It is situated in the Hunslet and Riverside (ward), Hunslet and Riverside ward of Lee ...

on 10 November 1972,

John Joyner John D. Joyner (), also known by the nickname of "JJ", is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and coached in the 1990s. He played at representative level for Great Britain, England an ...

against

Millom Millom is a town and civil parish on the north shore of the estuary of the River Duddon in southwest Cumbria, historically part of Cumberland, England. It is situated just outside the Lake District National Park, about north of Barrow-in-Furne ...

on 16 September 1973, Stephen Fenton against

Dewsbury Dewsbury is a minster and market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, east of Hudder ...

on 27 January 1978,

Ian French Ian French (born 28 December 1960) is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. French is the brother of fellow Queensland State of Origin player Brett French. While playing in the Brisbane Rugby League ...

against

on 9 February 1986, St. John Ellis against

Whitehaven Whitehaven is a town and port on the English north west coast and near to the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. Historically in Cumberland, it lies by road south-west of Carlisle and to the north of Barrow-in-Furness. It is th ...

on 10 December 1989, and Greg Eden against

on 11 June 2017. Eden became the first player to achieve this for Castleford in the Super League era. Eden's 41 tries for Castleford in 2017 places him second for the most tries scored in a single season for Castleford, behind Denny Solomona's 42 in 2016, ahead of St. John Ellis' 40 in 1993–94. Eden's 38 Super League tries in 2017 places him second for the most tries scored in a single Super League season, behind Denny Solomona's 40 in 2016, ahead of Lesley Vainikolo's 36 in 2004. Eden holds the record for fastest hat-trick in rugby league history; his treble against

on 29 May 2017 took just 4 minutes 59 seconds, beating Shaun Johnson's record 6 minutes 30 seconds for 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 ...

against the

Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby ...

in 2013. Eden is believed to hold the record for the most consecutive hat-tricks; in 2017, he scored trebles in 4 successive matches (against St Helens,

and

), which is believed to be a first in the professional game.

Statistics

(* denotes season still competing)

References

External links

Castleford Tigers profileCas Tigers profileGiants profileSL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eden, Greg 1990 births Living people Brisbane Broncos players Castleford Tigers players England Knights national rugby league team players English rugby league players Huddersfield Giants players Hull Kingston Rovers players Newcastle Thunder players Rugby league centres Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from Castleford Rugby league wingers Salford Red Devils players Wynnum Manly Seagulls players