Jacob Lillyman (born 7 March 1984) is an Australian former 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. Throughout his career, he played for 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 ...

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

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 ...

, while representing

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

State of Origin A State of Origin competition is a type of sporting event between players representing their state or territory. State of Origin began in Australian rules football on 8 October 1977 between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria, at Subiaco Oval ...

as a or .

Early years

Lillyman was born in

Richmond, Queensland Richmond is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Richmond, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Richmond had a population of 648 people. It is the administrative centre of the Shire of Richmond. Toponymy The origin of the name ...

, Australia. Lillyman attended Columba Catholic College,

Charters Towers Charters Towers is a rural town in the Charters Towers Region, Queensland, Australia. It is by road south-west from Townsville on the Flinders Highway. During the last quarter of the 19th century, the town boomed as the rich gold deposits under ...

, where he was a boarding student for a while. His youth club was the Richmond Tigers in Northwest Queensland. While attending

Kirwan State High School Kirwan State High School is a coeducational state school located in Kirwan, Townsville, Queensland, Australia, approximately from the Townsville CBD. In 2017, it has 1997 students with 156 teachers (145 full-time equivalent) and 75 non-teachi ...

, Lillyman played for the Australian Schoolboys team in 2002.

Playing career

Cowboys

Lillyman made his debut for the

Cowboys A cowboy is a professional pastoralist or mounted livestock herder, usually from the Americas or Australia. Cowboy(s) or The Cowboy(s) may also refer to: Film and television * ''Cowboy'' (1958 film), starring Glenn Ford * ''Cowboy'' (1966 film), ...

in Round 22 of the 2003 season against the

. He then went on to play sixty two games for the club, showing good enough form to earn

selection. In 2008 Lillyman was forced to leave the

due to salary-cap pressures, and that year there ended abruptly for him when he suffered a season-ending injury in Round 15, playing 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. ...

Warriors

In June 2008, it was announced that he had signed a two-year deal with the

for the 2009 and 2010 seasons. At that time he was joining a strong Queensland contingent at the club, which included former Cowboys

Nathan Fien Nathan Fien (born 1 August 1979), also known by the nickname of "Fieny", is a former New Zealand international rugby league footballer who played as a and in the 2000s and 2010s. He last played for the St. George Illawarra Dragons in the Nat ...

and

Micheal Luck Micheal Luck (born 21 April 1981) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played for the North Queensland Cowboys and the New Zealand Warriors. Micheal Luck's position of choice was or . Playing career Queensland Whi ...

and well as fellow State representatives Steve Price and

Brent Tate Brent Tate (born 3 March 1982) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a or er in the 2000s and 2010s. An Australia national rugby league team, Australia international and Queensland rugby league team, Queens ...

. In August 2010 he signed a one-year extension and a further two-year extension followed in May 2011 when Lillyman re-signed for the Warriors until the end of the 2013 season In April 2014 he re-signed until the end of the 2017 season, which would make it a straight nine years with the club. On 3 April 2016 Lillyman became the 11th player to mark 150 games for the Warriors in their 32-28 win over the Sydney Roosters at

Gosford Gosford is the city and administrative centre of the Central Coast Council local government area in the heart of the Central Coast region, about north of Sydney and about south of Newcastle. The city centre is situated at the northern extre ...

, NSW, making 159 metres, with 31 tackles.

Knights

After 188 games with the Warriors, Lillyman decided it was time to return to Australia, signing a 1-year contract with the Newcastle Knights starting in 2018. In round 1 of the 2018 season, Lillyman made his debut for the Knights in their 19-18

golden point The golden point, a sudden death overtime system, is used to resolve drawn football matches. The term is borrowed from soccer's now-defunct golden goal. Rugby league Australia The golden point is used to determine a winner (where applicable, see ...

extra-time win over the

Manly Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rugb ...

. In August 2018, he announced he would be retiring at the end of the 2018 season.

Representative career

Lillyman made his State of Origin debut for Queensland on 14 June 2006 coming off the bench in the 53rd minute. Lillyman was recalled to the Queensland State of Origin team for the first match on the 2011 series. In the week leading up to Game II of the

2013 State of Origin series The 2013 State of Origin series was the 32nd time the State of Origin series, annual best-of-three series between the Queensland rugby league team, Queensland and New South Wales rugby league team, New South Wales rugby league teams was played ent ...

, it was announced that Lillyman would replace injured

Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby league, Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won ...

forward Martin Kennedy as the 18th man for Queensland in the next game of the series, marking his return to representative football. Lillyman played for Queensland in games two and three of the

2014 State of Origin series The 2014 State of Origin series was the 33rd time the annual best-of-three series between the Queensland and New South Wales rugby league teams has been played entirely under 'state of origin' rules (1980 and 1981 were only 1 game series). It is ...

and in all three of the

2015 State of Origin series The 2015 State of Origin series was the 34th time the annual best-of-three series between the Queensland and New South Wales rugby league teams to be played entirely under 'state of origin' rules (1980 and 1981 were only one game series). It was ...

. A week before Game II of the

2016 State of Origin series The 2016 State of Origin series was the 35th time the State of Origin series, annual best-of-three series between the Queensland rugby league team, Queensland and New South Wales rugby league team, New South Wales rugby league teams to be played e ...

, it was announced that Lillyman would replace injured

prop

Nate Myles Nate Myles (born 24 June 1985) is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s, he last played for the Melbourne Storm in the National Rugby League. A Queensland State of Origin and Australia national represen ...

for Queensland in the next game of the series.

References

External links

Newcastle Knights profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lillyman, Jacob 1984 births Living people Australian rugby league players New Zealand Warriors players North Queensland Cowboys players Newcastle Knights players People from North Queensland People educated at Kirwan State High School Queensland Rugby League State of Origin players Rugby league players from Queensland Rugby league second-rows Rugby league props