Jeremiah Nanai (born 18 February 2003) is an Australia international rugby league footballer who plays as a forward 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 ...

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 has played at representative level for

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 , establishe ...

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 Ov ...

as well as for Australia.

Background

Nanai was born in

Auckland, New Zealand Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

and raised in

Cairns, Queensland Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

, Australia. He is of Samoan descent. He began playing rugby league at age 13 for the

Cairns Kangaroos The Cairns District Rugby League was formed on 5 August 1918 and is the administrative body for the game of rugby league football in Cairns, Queensland. The CDRL runs senior, junior and women's club competitions and has its headquarters at Barlow ...

and attended Trinity Bay State High School, where he was selected for the Australian Schoolboys under-15 merit side in 2018. In 2019, Nanai signed with the

and moved to

Townsville, Queensland Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 30 ...

, where he attended Kirwan State High School.

Playing career

Early career

In July 2019, Nanai represented the Northern Marlins at the QRL Under-16 Junior State Championships. On 18 September 2019, he started at in Kirwan State High School's NRL Schoolboy Cup win over

Westfields Sports High School , motto_translation = Courage and Valour , established = , location = 406A Hamilton Road, Fairfield West, Western Sydney, New South Wales , country = Australia , type = Government-funded co-educational comprehensive ...

. On 29 September 2019, he represented Queensland Country under-16, scoring a hat trick and being named Man of the Match in their 44–4 win over Queensland City under-16. In January 2020, Nanai was selected in the

Under-18 Emerging Origin squad. In September 2020, Nanai played for Kirwan in their Queensland state final win over

Palm Beach Currumbin State High School Palm Beach Currumbin State High School (PBC High School or PBC) is an independent co-educational public school (government funded), in the Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast suburb of Currumbin, Queensland, Australia. PBC is Queensland's south ...

, scoring two tries. On 7 October 2020, Nanai joined North Queensland's NRL squad on a development contract for the 2021 season.

2021

Nanai began the 2021 season playing for the Northern Pride 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 ...

. In Round 22 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 ...

, Nanai made his NRL debut against 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 ...

2022

In round 3 of the

2022 NRL season The 2022 NRL season is the 115th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 25th season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 16th consecutive year. This became the second longest s ...

, Nanai scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

for North Queensland against arch rivals

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

in a 38–12 victory. In April, Nanai signed a one-year contract extension to remain at North Queensland until the end of 2023. In round 7, Nanai was sent to the sin bin and later scored a try during North Queensland's 30–4 victory over the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

. In round 11, Nanai scored two tries for North Queensland in their shock 36–6 upset victory over

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 ...

. On 30 May, Nanai was selected to debut for the Queensland State of Origin team for game one of the 2022 State of Origin series. Nanai was taken from the field during Queensland's 16–10 victory with an ankle injury. In round 20, Nanai scored two tries for North Queensland in a 34–8 victory over St. George Illawarra. Nanai finished a great year receiving the Dally M Rookie of the Year award and the Dally M Second Rower of the year and finishing the season with 17 tries from 23 matches. In October he was named in the Australia squad for the

2021 Rugby League World Cup The 2021 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC2021) was a collection of world cups in the sport of rugby league, held in England from 15 October to 19 November 2022. England won hosting rights for the competition on 27 October 2016. The bid received £ ...

2023

In round 2 of the

2023 NRL season The 2023 NRL season is the 116th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 26th season run by the National Rugby League. Teams For the 2023 season, the number of teams in the NRL has increased from sixteen to seventeen with the ...

, Nanai scored two tries for North Queensland in their 28-16 loss against arch-rivals

. In round 4 against the Gold Coast, Nanai was sent to the sin bin and later suspended for two matches after a dangerous throw on

Phillip Sami Phillip Sami (born 2 August 1997) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a er and for the Gold Coast Titans in the NRL. Sami has also represented his home state, Queensland, in the State of Origin series. Backgrou ...

. Nanai played two games for Queensland in the

2023 State of Origin series The 2023 State of Origin series is the 42nd 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. Before this series, Q ...

which Queensland won 2-1. On 25 July, it was announced that Nanai would miss at least four matches after he suffered a high grade AC joint injury during North Queensland's victory over Parramatta. Nanai played 13 games for North Queensland in the

and scored six tries as the club finished 11th on the table.

References

External links

North Queensland Cowboys profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nanai, Jeremiah 2003 births Living people Australia national rugby league team players New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent North Queensland Cowboys players Queensland Rugby League State of Origin players Northern Pride RLFC players Rugby league players from Auckland Rugby league second-rows New Zealand emigrants to Australia