Jake Ngapera Webster (born 29 October 1983) is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

international

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 for the

Keighley Cougars The Keighley Cougars are a professional rugby league club from Keighley in West Yorkshire, England who compete in League 1, the third tier of English rugby league. Keighley's home ground, Cougar Park has a capacity of 7,800. History Early y ...

in Betfred League 1. He previously played as a and er for 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. ...

and

Gold Coast Titans The Gold Coast Titans are a professional rugby league football club, based on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australia and New Zealand's national rugby league club competition. The ...

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 ...

, and as a and forward for 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 ...

( Heritage № 934) and

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 ...

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 ...

. Webster also played for 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

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

Early life

Webster was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, Australia. He is the son of a New Zealand

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

father, Steven and

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

mother, Madeline, spent the early years of his life in

Moonee Ponds Moonee Ponds is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Moonee Valley local government area. Moonee Ponds recorded a population of 16,224 at the 20 ...

before moving to

Brisbane, Queensland Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

with his father. When in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, Jake was educated at

Wavell State High School Wavell State High School is a coeducational independent public secondary school based in Wavell Heights, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The school has a total enrolment of more than 1500 students from years 7–12, with an official cou ...

. Jake also played football in primary school at Stafford state school in Brisbane's north alongside former Queensland sprinter and beenleigh lions and brothers Junior speedster Craig Stevens. He began his rugby league career as an eight-year-old with the Valleys rugby league club and remained with the club through to under-18s. Jake was first spotted by former

assistant coach Anthony Griffin in 2000 and was offered a place with Storm feeder side,

Norths Devils The Northern Suburbs Devils, or North Brisbane Devils, or often simply referred to as Norths for short, are a rugby league club representing the northern suburbs of Brisbane, Australia. The team colours are sky blue, navy blue and gold. They pl ...

Playing career

National Rugby League

In 2001 Webster was selected in the Queensland under-19s side and was offered a Storm contract soon after. He was the first Melbourne-born player to play with the

. In round 16, 2006, he scored a memorable try that saved the Storm from certain defeat in one of the games of the year. Webster signed for the

in 2006 and is a member of their inaugural season, in 2007. He was selected to play for the New Zealand national team on the wing in the 2007 ANZAC Test loss against

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 ...

. Webster agreed a deal to join current English

side

on 30 August 2007 for a reported 3 year £100,000 per year contract after being released by the

Titans In Greek mythology, the Titans ( grc, οἱ Τῑτᾶνες, ''hoi Tītânes'', , ''ho Tītân'') were the pre-Olympian gods. According to the ''Theogony'' of Hesiod, they were the twelve children of the primordial parents Uranus (Sky) and Ga ...

Super League

Webster made his

début in a 20-12 defeat by

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 ...

in which he scored a brace and

' only tries. Jake made a good start to the 2010 season filling in for

Paul Cooke Paul Cooke (born 17 April 1981) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s, and rugby league, and rugby union Coach (sports), coach of the 2010s. He played at representative level for Eng ...

at stand off and scoring a try in the opening fixture against

Salford City Reds The Salford Red Devils are a professional rugby league club in Salford, Greater Manchester, England, who play in the Super League. Formed in 1873, they have won six Championships and one Challenge Cup. Their home ground since 2012 has been t ...

. On 26 June Webster signed for

on a three-year deal, starting in 2013. In March 2014, after missing rugby league action for nearly 12 months out with injury, Webster was given game time to play for the

York City Knights The York Knights are the men's professional rugby league team of York RLFC (known as the York City Knights from 2002 to 2022) based in York, England. The Knights played their home games at Huntington Stadium before moving to Bootham Crescent. ...

in the League 1 competition. Later in 2014, Webster helped Castleford reach their first

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 ...

Final since 1992. He was a key player in the squad that achieved this, and scored a try against

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census had a population of 61,464. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it is on t ...

in the Semi-Final. He played in the 2014 Challenge Cup Final defeat by the

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

. Webster scored 4 tries against

Wakefield Trinity 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 ...

in August 2017 to seal Castleford's place at the top of Super League, helping the club achieve their first ever top-flight league title. He also played for the Tigers in the

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

in the same season. Webster's departure from Castleford was announced in August 2018. Throughout his time with the club, Webster was regarded as a fans' favourite, stating ''"The biggest memory from my time here at Castleford will be the fans in the stands."''

Lower leagues

In August 2018, Webster signed for

on a two-year deal. At the end of the 2019 season and having scored 11 tries in 25 appearances for the Bulls, Webster left the club part way through his contract to join League 1 neighbours

on a two-year deal.

References

External links

Castleford Tigers profileHull KR profileSL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Webster, Jake 1983 births Living people Australian rugby league players Australian people of Greek descent Australian people of Māori descent Bradford Bulls players Castleford Tigers players Gold Coast Titans players Hull Kingston Rovers players Keighley Cougars players Melbourne Storm players New Zealand Māori rugby league players New Zealand national rugby league team players Rugby league wingers Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Melbourne Rugby league players from Brisbane