JJ Collins '' né'' Felise (born 15 February 1996) 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 11 ...

footballer who plays as a for the

Dolphins A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (t ...

in the NRL. He previously played for the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional 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 joint-venture ...

and the

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, th ...

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 ...

and the

Tweed Heads Seagulls The Tweed Heads Seagulls, often referred to simply as Tweed or Seagulls or Tweed Seagulls, is a rugby league club based in Tweed Heads, New South Wales. It is one of only two non-Queensland teams to play in the Queensland Cup, along with th ...

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 fou ...

Background

Collins was born in Logan City, Queensland, Australia. He is of Samoan descent. Collins was formerly known as Jacob Junior Felise, later JJ Felise, before changing his name to JJ Collins. He played his junior rugby league for the Logan Brothers and attended

Keebra Park State High School Keebra Park State High School (KPSHS), referred to as Keebra Park or Keebra, is a co-educational public secondary school, located in the Gold Coast suburb of Southport, Queensland, Australia. Notable alumni Cricket * Ingrid Cronin-Knight – I ...

, before signing with the

as a teenager.

Playing career

Early career

While attending Keebra Park, Collins was a member of their 2013

ARL Schoolboy Cup The NRL Schoolboy Cup is the premier Education in Australia#Secondary schools, secondary schools rugby league competition in Australia, held annually since 1975. Formerly known under such names as the Amco Shield, Commonwealth Bank Cup, Arrive Al ...

winning side and represented the Queensland Schoolboys in 2013 and 2014. In 2015 and 2016, he played for the Wests Tigers'

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, playing in 21 games in 2015.

2016

In January 2016, Collins was named in the Queensland Academy of Sport under-20s squad. In round 7 of the

2016 NRL season The 2016 NRL season was the 109th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 19th season run by the National Rugby League. The season started in New Zealand with the annual Auckland Nines, and was followed by the All Stars Match, w ...

, he made his NRL debut for the Tigers against 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. ...

. Coach Jason Taylor said his debut was, "was a tough game that went into extra time and he just didn’t look out of place for a second, which when you stop and think about it, is an incredible thing for a prop on debut against that pack." On 1 June, he re-signed with the Tigers on a 2-year contract until the end of 2018. He played in 8 games for the season, all from the

interchange bench Interchange (or, colloquially, the bench or interchange bench) is a team position in Australian rules football, consisting of players who are part of the selected team but are not currently on the field of play. Interchange numbers AFL As of t ...

2017

Suffering some recurring injuries and a lengthy stint in reserve grade, Collins only made five NRL appearances for the season.

2018

Ahead of round 16 of the 2018 season, Collins joined the

effective immediately after not being able to break into the Tigers' NRL side all season. After spending some time in the Newcastle reserve grade side, he made his club debut in round 21 against his former team the Wests Tigers. He went on to play one more NRL match for the Newcastle outfit, before parting ways at the end of the season.

2019

Ahead of the

2019 NRL season The 2019 NRL season was the 112th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 22nd season run by the National Rugby League. The Sydney Roosters became the first team to win back-to-back Premierships since the Brisbane Broncos in 1992 ...

, Collins joined 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 ...

on a two-year contract. Collins made his debut for Canberra in round 6 of the

against 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 c ...

which ended in a 26-22 victory at

Canberra Stadium Canberra Stadium (GIO Stadium for commercial reasons) is a facility primarily used for rugby league and rugby union games, located adjacent to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, the capital of Australia. It is the largest sports ven ...

2022

On 10 May, Collins signed a contract to join the newly admitted

side ahead of the 2023 NRL season.

References

External links

Canberra Raiders profileNewcastle Knights profileNRL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, JJ 1996 births Living people Australian sportspeople of Samoan descent Australian rugby league players Canberra Raiders players Newcastle Knights players People educated at Keebra Park State High School Rugby league players from Logan, Queensland Rugby league props Western Suburbs Magpies NSW Cup players Wests Tigers NSW Cup players Wests Tigers players