Josh Jackson (born 8 January 1991) is a former Australian 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 who played as a forward and was the captain of the

Canterbury-Bankstown 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 ...

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 ...

. At representative level he has played for NSW Country,

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

in the

State of Origin series The State of Origin series is an annual best-of-three rugby league series between two Australian state representative sides, the New South Wales Blues and the Queensland Maroons. Referred to as “Australian sport's greatest rivalry”, the ...

, and

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 ...

Background

Jackson was born in

Gulgong, New South Wales Gulgong is a 19th-century gold rush town in the Central Tablelands and the wider Central West regions of the Australian state of New South Wales. The town is situated within the Mid-Western Regional Council local government area. It is located ...

, Australia. He played his junior football for the Gulgong Bull Terriers and Mudgee Dragons. In 2007 his family moved to

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle ( ; Awabakal: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas, and is the hub of the Greater Newcastle area, w ...

. In Newcastle, Jackson played for the Valentine-Eleebana Red Devils and

Lakes United Seagulls Lakes United is a rugby league club based in the Newcastle, New South Wales region of Australia. Known as ''The Seagulls'' and wearing Royal blue and Gold, they have been a member of the Newcastle Rugby League since 1947. History Lakes United ...

. In 2009, he was signed by the

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 ...

. He played for the Knights'

S. G. Ball Cup The S. G. Ball Cup is a junior rugby league football competition played predominantly in New South Wales, between teams made up of players aged under 19. Teams from Canberra and Melbourne (Victoria Thunderbolts) also participate. Prior to the C ...

team.

Professional playing career

He played for Canterbury's

NYC New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Uni ...

team in 2010 and 2011, playing over 50 games, before graduating to the Bulldogs'

New South Wales Cup The NSW Cup, currently known as the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. The competition has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserve ...

reserve-grade team in 2012. In Round 16 of the

2012 NRL season The 2012 NRL season was the 105th season of professional rugby league club competition in Australia, and the first run by the newly formed Australian Rugby League Commission. The main competition, called the 2012 NRL Telstra Premiership due to spon ...

, Jackson made his

debut for Canterbury-Bankstown 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. ...

. Later that year, he'd run on in the 2012 NRL Grand Final for Canterbury as they finished runners-up to Melbourne. Jackson has developed a reputation as an uncompromising, rugged and hard-working second rower. He is a strong defender and competent attacking player on Canterbury's right edge. He has reasonable ball skills that have enabled him to play five-eighth on occasion. In 2013, Jackson was selected for the

Country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

team to play the

City A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

in the annual

City vs Country Origin City vs Country Origin was an annual Australian rugby league football match that took place in New South Wales between City and Country representative sides. The City side represented the Sydney metropolitan area. While technically it was Sydne ...

match. A season later, he was selected for the

Australian Kangaroos The Australian National Rugby League Team, the Kangaroos, have represented Australia in senior men's rugby league football competition since the establishment of the 'Northern Union game' in Australia in 1908. Administered by the Australian ...

for the Four Nations tournament. He made his Test debut in Australia's 44-18 win over Samoa, and was later selected in the final against New Zealand, which Australia lost 22-18. Jackson played 28 games for Canterbury in the

2014 NRL season The 2014 NRL season was the 107th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 17th season of the National Rugby League in Australia and New Zealand. The season started in New Zealand, for the Auckland Nines, replacing the Rugby Leagu ...

as the club reached the

2014 NRL Grand Final The 2014 NRL Grand Final was the concluding and premiership-deciding match of the 2014 NRL season. Played on the evening of Sunday 5 October 2014 at ANZ Stadium, the match was contested by the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Canterbury-Bankstown B ...

against South Sydney but were defeated 30-6 at

ANZ Stadium ANZ may refer to: People * Anz (musician), a British DJ and electronic musician Banks * ANZ (bank), Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, the fourth-largest bank in Australia ** ANZ Bank New Zealand, the largest bank in New Zealand ...

. On 3 May 2015, Jackson played for New South Wales Country against New South Wales City in the 2015

. In 2016, Josh Jackson received the

Brad Fittler Medal State of Origin results and statistics have been accumulating since the 1980 State of Origin game. Every game played under State of Origin selection rules, including the additional 1987 exhibition match and the matches played between New South Wa ...

as New South Wales' best player in that year's Origin series. In 2017, Jackson was controversially awarded Man of the Match for his performance in State of Origin II in Sydney despite playing just 49 out of 80 minutes and having a limited role in attack. He was the first player in a losing side to be awarded man of the match in over a decade. In 2018, Jackson was left out of The NSW state of origin squad despite winning the award as NSW's best player in The 2017 series. Jackson played 24 games for Canterbury 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 finished a disappointing 12th on the table. On 22 December 2019, Jackson signed a three-year contract extension to remain at Canterbury-Bankstown until the end of the 2023 season. Jackson made a total of 17 appearances for Canterbury in 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 ...

as the club finished last and claimed the

Wooden Spoon Wooden Spoon may refer to: * Wooden spoon, implement * Wooden spoon (award) A wooden spoon is an award that is given to an individual or team that has come last in a competition. Examples range from the academic to sporting and more frivolous e ...

. Jackson played 23 games for Canterbury in 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 ...

which saw the club finish 12th on the table and miss the finals. On 27 October 2022, Jackson announced his retirement from rugby league.

References

External links

Canterbury Bulldogs profileNRL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Josh 1991 births Living people New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players Country New South Wales Origin rugby league team players Valentine-Eleebana Red Devils players Lakes United Seagulls players Junior Kangaroos players Rugby league second-rows Rugby league players from New South Wales Australian rugby league players Australia national rugby league team players