Jack Hetherington (born 8 June 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 112 ...

footballer who plays as a and forward for 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 ...

(NRL). He previously played for 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 ...

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 ...

and 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 NRL.

Background

Hetherington was born in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

, ACT, Australia. He is the grandson of

Bill Mullins William Mullins (born 30 January 1948 in Campsie, New South Wales) is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played during the 1960s and 1970s in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership, the major rugby league competition in A ...

, son of

Brett Hetherington Brett Hetherington is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played for the Canberra Raiders and North Queensland Cowboys. Playing career Hetherington made his debut for Canberra in Round 1 of the 1992 season against Pen ...

, nephew of

Brett Mullins Brett Mullins (born 21 January 1972) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s, and early 2000s. A New South Wales State of Origin and Australian international representative back, he played his club ...

and cousin of

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 ...

player James Schiller. Hetherington played his junior rugby league for the Valentine Devils and

Young Cherrypickers Group 9 is a rugby league competition based in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia, and surrounding areas. The competition is played in five grades, with these being Under 17s, Under 19s, Women's League-Tag, Reserve-Grade and First-Grade. ...

Playing career

2018 & 2019

In 2018, he made his

début for Penrith against 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 ...

. Hetherington played 13 NRL games in his rookie season, later re-signing with Penrith until the end of the 2021 season.

2020

On 18 June 2020, Hetherington was temporarily released to join the

on loan. In round 13 of the

2020 NRL season The 2020 NRL season was the 113th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 23rd season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 14th consecutive year. ; Notes : : : Pre-season ...

, Hetherington was placed on report for a dangerous tackle on Manly player

Martin Taupau Martin Taupau (born 3 February 1990) is a professional rugby league footballer who plays for the Brisbane Broncos as and and has played for both Samoa and New Zealand at international level. He previously played for the Manly Warringah Sea ...

. Hetherington was later suspended for four matches after pleading guilty to the dangerous tackle. In October 2020, Hetherington was released by Penrith and he signed a contract to join

Canterbury-Bankstown Canterbury-Bankstown is a customary region of Sydney, Australia, in the south-western suburbs. The area is located around the Bankstown railway line, to the west of the St George region and to the south of the Inner West region. The suburbs ...

2021

In round 6 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 ...

, Hetherington was sent off after hitting North Queensland player

Valentine Holmes Valentine Holmes (born 24 July 1995) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays across the backline as a or er for the North Queensland Cowboys in the NRL and Australia at international level. He began his career with the ...

around the head with a dangerous high tackle. Canterbury would go on to lose the match 30-18. On 20 April, Hetherington was given a five-game suspension for his dangerous high tackle after taking an early guilty plea. In round 21, Hetherington was sent to the sin bin yet again after using a dangerous high tackle during Canterbury's 28-16 loss against 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 ...

. Hetherington made a total of 17 appearances for Canterbury in the

as the club finished last and claimed the

Wooden Spoon Wooden Spoon may refer to: * Wooden spoon, implement * Wooden spoon (award) A wooden spoon is an award that is given to an individual or team that has come last in a competition. Examples range from the academic to sporting and more frivolous e ...

2022

In round 3 of the 2022 NRL season, Hetherington was taken from the field during Canterbury's loss against Manly. It was later announced that Hetherington would require shoulder surgery which ruled him out for the remainder of the season. In June, Hetherington signed a three-year contract with the

starting in 2023.

2023

Hetherington played 26 matches for Newcastle in the 2023 NRL season as the club finished 7th on the table. Hetherington played in both finals games as Newcastle were eliminated in the second week of the finals by the

References

External links

Newcastle Knights profileCanterbury Bulldogs profilePenrith Panthers profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hetherington, Jack 1996 births Living people Australian rugby league players Australian expatriate sportspeople in New Zealand Newcastle Knights players Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players New Zealand Warriors players Penrith Panthers players Rugby league players from Canberra Rugby league props