Harrison "Harry" Siejka () (born 3 February 1992) is an Australian
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 for the
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilita ...
. He has also played for a
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 ...
club, the
St George Illawarra Dragons
The St. George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 after a joint- ...
, and the
Wakefield Trinity Wildcats
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 ...
and the
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
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 ...
. He plays as a but he can also play as a . Siejka is a Polish dual-code rugby representative, having played for both the
rugby league team and
rugby union team.
Early years
Siejka was born in
Bathurst in regional
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
and is of
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
descent. He played his junior rugby league for the
Bathurst Panthers
Bathurst Panthers is an Australian rugby league football team based in the Central West city of Bathurst. The Panthers have played in the Country Rugby League-controlled Group 10 Rugby League since 2000, following the amalgamation of the Bath ...
.
Playing career
Siejka joined the
Penrith Panthers
The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith that competes in the NRL. The team is based west of the centre of Sydney, at the foot of the Blue Mountains. Penrith ...
in 2008 on a A$75,000 three-year deal, a then record for a 16-year-old.
[ He played for the ]Australian Schoolboys
The Australian Schoolboys refer to junior teams that represent Australia in various sports. The name is mainly used in rugby league, rugby union and baseball. Other popular team sports in Australia such as cricket, basketball, association footbal ...
under-15 side.
He played in the Penrith NYC Team from 2010 until 2012. On 30 July 2011, Siejka made his 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 ...
début for the Panthers against 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 ...
. Siejka made 25 tackles and kicked a goal in his side's 18–30 loss at Dairy Farmers Stadium
The Willows Sports Complex, currently known as 1300SMILES Stadium through sponsorship, is a grass football stadium situated in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. It has been a predominantly rugby league ground as the home ground of the North Q ...
. In his second first grade appearance, Siejka set up two of Penrith's three tries thanks to a grubber kick which lead to Trent Waterhouse
Trent Waterhouse (born 8 January 1981), also known by the nickname of "House", is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a forward for the Thirroul Butchers in the Illawarra Rugby League. He has previously played for t ...
's 39th NRL career try, and then, in the dying stages of the game, he played a vital role in Ryan Walker's try via some "hot potato football" from Junior Vaivai
Taioalo "Junior" Vaivai (born 18 January 1990) is a Professional Rugby League player. He is also a United States international who plays as a for Toulouse Olympique in the English Super League. He has previously played for the Penrith Panthers ...
.
Siejka joined 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 ...
for the 2013 season.[Siejka departs Penrith Panthers to join the New Zealand Warriors]
''Herald Sun'', 30 November 2012
On 12 June 2013, Siejka was released from his Warriors contract, after failing to make a single first-grade appearance for the club. He subsequently joined the St. George Illawarra Dragons
The St. George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 after a joint-ve ...
for the remainder of the 2013 season and began training with their NSW Cup
The NSW Cup, currently known as the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. The competition has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserve ...
team, the Illawarra Cutters
The Illawarra Rugby League Football Club were an Australian rugby league football club based in Illawarra formed in 2012. Originally known as the Illawarra Cutters, they became known as the Illawarra RLFC before the 2017 Intrust Super Premiershi ...
.
Bradford Bulls
Siejka signed for Bradford on a 2 year deal. He featured in the pre-season friendlies against 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 ...
and 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 ...
. He scored a goal against 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 ...
.
He featured in round 1 (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 ...
) and round 2 (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 ...
). Harry was banned for two rounds before playing in four games between round 5 (Batley Bulldogs
Batley is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. Batley lies south-west of Leeds, north-west of Wakefield and Dewsbury, south-east of Bradford and north-east of Huddersfield. Batley is part of th ...
) and round 9 (London Broncos
The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club in London, England.
The club competes in the RFL Championship. It was a member of Super League from its inaugural season in 1996 until the end of the 2014 season, when they were relegat ...
). He played in round 18 (Workington Town
Workington Town R.L.F.C. is a semi-professional rugby league club playing in Workington in west Cumbria.
Their stadium is Derwent Park, which they share with Workington Comets, a speedway team.
They became Rugby League Champions in 1951 and ...
) and in round 13 (Featherstone Rovers
Featherstone Rovers are a professional rugby league club in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England, who play in the Championship (rugby league), Championship. Featherstone is a former coal mining town with a population of around 16,000 and Rover ...
). Siejka played in Qualifier 2 (Wakefield Trinity Wildcats
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 ...
) and then in the games between Qualifier 5 (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 ...
) and Qualifier 7 ( Halifax). Siejka played in the £1 Million Game against the Wakefield Trinity Wildcats. He also featured in the Challenge Cup
The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...
in round 4, against Workington Town
Workington Town R.L.F.C. is a semi-professional rugby league club playing in Workington in west Cumbria.
Their stadium is Derwent Park, which they share with Workington Comets, a speedway team.
They became Rugby League Champions in 1951 and ...
. He scored against Leigh Centurions (2 goals), Whitehaven RLFC (2 goals) and Workington Town (1 try).
He was released from his contract by mutual consent on 6 November 2015
Later years
In 2016, Siejka played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilita ...
in the Intrust Super Premiership NSW
The NSW Cup, currently known as the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. The competition has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserv ...
.
Siejka represented Poland in rugby league at the 2018 Emerging Nations World Championship
The 2018 Emerging Nations World Championship (ENWC) was a rugby league tournament held for Tier Two and Tier Three nations, the third edition of the Rugby League Emerging Nations Tournament.
Background
Several nations that had not qualified, or ...
.
He became a dual-code international when he debuted for Poland in rugby union during the 2018–19 Rugby Europe Trophy, against Lithuania
Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
on 3 November 2018. He also played against the Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
on 17 November.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Siejka, Harry
1992 births
Living people
Auckland rugby league team players
Australian people of Polish descent
Australian expatriate sportspeople in England
Australian rugby league players
Bradford Bulls players
Dual-code rugby internationals
Featherstone Rovers players
Illawarra Cutters players
Penrith Panthers players
Poland national rugby league team players
Poland international rugby union players
Polish expatriate sportspeople in England
Rugby league five-eighths
Rugby league halfbacks
Rugby league players from Bathurst, New South Wales
Rugby union centres
Wakefield Trinity players
Windsor Wolves players