Jordan Atkins (born 22 January 1983) 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 11 ...

footballer who last played for the London Broncos in the Super League. His positions of choice are at or .

Background

Atkins was born in

Stanthorpe, Queensland Stanthorpe is a rural town and locality in the Southern Downs Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Stanthorpe had a population of 5,406 people. The area surrounding the town is known as the Granite Belt. Geography Stanthorpe lies on the ...

, Australia.

Early playing career

In 2004, Atkins travelled to the United Kingdom as a member of the Australian Universities rugby league team. He spent the 2006 and 2007 seasons playing with the

Burleigh Bears The Burleigh Bears are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Gold Coast, Australia. They compete in Queensland's top rugby league competition, the Queensland Cup. Since their admission to the competition in 1997, th ...

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 ...

while studying for his teaching degree at the University of Southern Queensland.

Playing career

2008-10: Career with Gold Coast

Atkins made his first-grade début against 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 round one of 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) 2008 season. Atkin's tally of four tries in that match equalled the standing record for most tries in an Australian first grade début set by

Johnno Stuntz John "Johnno" Stuntz (1884–1917) was an Australian pioneer rugby league footballer and soldier who served in World War I and died on the Western Front. A national and state representative winger, his club career was played with Eastern Subur ...

for

Eastern Suburbs Eastern Suburbs may refer to: Places *Eastern Suburbs (Mumbai), India *Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Australia **Eastern Suburbs railway line, Sydney, Australia Sports clubs ;Association football *Eastern Suburbs AFC, Auckland, New Zealand * Eastern ...

début 1908 season, which was the first match of the opening game of rugby league in Australia, and later Canterbury Bankstown's Tony Nash in the 1942 season.

2011-12: Career with Parramatta

In September 2010, Atkins signed a two-year contract with the

Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and their ...

for the 2011 and 2012 seasons. Atkins played 12 games for Parramatta in the

2011 NRL season The 2011 NRL season was the 104th season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the fourteenth and last run by the National Rugby League's partnership committee of the Australian Rugby League and News Ltd. The N ...

as the club narrowly avoided the wooden spoon. Parramatta managed to avoid the dreaded award by beating Atkins former club the Gold Coast in the final round of the year.

London Broncos

In February 2014, Atkins signed a one-year deal to play with London Broncos in England. Atkins retired at the end of the season.

References

External links

Elite Athletes at USQ

* ttp://www.rleague.com/db/player/a/atkins_jordan/index.php#stats Jordan Atkins at ''www.rleague.com'' 1983 births Living people Australian rugby league players Gold Coast Titans players Parramatta Eels players Burleigh Bears players London Broncos players Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league centres Rugby league wingers Rugby league players from Queensland Wentworthville Magpies players People from Stanthorpe, Queensland {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1980s-stub