Jai Whitbread (born 16 January 1998) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a and for Wakefield Trinity 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 has previously played for the Gold Coast Titans in the

NRL 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 ...

Background

Whitbread was born in

Tugun, Queensland Tugun ( ) is a beach-side coastal Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. In the , Tugun had a population of 6,588 people. It borders New South Wales. Locals refer to the suburb as ''Tugz'' ( ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and raised in Tweed Heads, New South Wales. He played his junior rugby league for the South Tweed Bears. He attended

Saint Joseph's College, Tweed Heads Saint Joseph's College (SJC) is an independent Roman Catholic co-educational secondary day school, located in Banora Point, near , the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia. Founded in 1993, the college is administered by the Ro ...

and The Southport School before being signed by the Gold Coast Titans. He is the son of former

Canterbury 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 ...

and

Gold Coast Giants The Gold Coast Chargers were a professional rugby league club which played in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership from New South Wales Rugby League season 1988, 1988 to New South Wales Rugby League season 1994, 1994, the Australian Ru ...

/ Seagulls player, Greg Whitbread.

Playing career

Early career

In 2014, while a member of the Gold Coast Titans high performance squad, Whitbread represented the New South Wales Under-16 team. In 2016, he joined the Brisbane Broncos, playing for their Holden Cup (Under-20s) team and representing New South Wales Under-18s team.

2018

Whitbread began the season playing for the Burleigh Bears in the Queensland Cup. In round 18 of the

2018 NRL season The 2018 NRL season was the 111th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 21st season run by the National Rugby League. The main competition, known as the 2018 Telstra Premiership due to sponsorship from Telstra, featured 16 team ...

, Whitbread made his

debut for the Gold Coast against the Sydney Roosters. This would be Whitbread's only top grade appearance for the club in 2018. The Gold Coast would go on to finish in 14th position on the table at the end of the season.

2019

Whitbread made a total of 18 appearances for the Gold Coast in 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 ...

as the club endured a horror year on and off the field. During the halfway mark of the season, head coach

Garth Brennan Garth Brennan (born 18 February 1972) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who was the head coach of the Gold Coast Titans in the NRL. He previously held coaching positions at the Newcastle Knights and the Penrith Panthers ...

was sacked by the club after a string of poor results. The Gold Coast managed to win only four games for the entire season and finished last claiming the Wooden Spoon.

2020

Whitbread played nine games for the Gold Coast in 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 ...

as the club finished ninth on the table and missed the finals.

2021

On 2 August 2021, it was reported that he had signed for

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 ...

in the

Wakefield Trinity

On 24 Nov 2021 it was reported that he had signed for Wakefield Trinity in the

References

External links

Gold Coast Tirans profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitbread, Jai 1998 births Living people Gold Coast Titans players Leigh Leopards players People from Tweed Heads, New South Wales Rugby league players from Queensland Rugby league props Wakefield Trinity players Australian expatriate sportspeople in England