Kane Cleal (born 5 April 1984) is an 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 formerly played 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 ...

. He played for the

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rugb ...

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 ...

and the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian 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 pla ...

Background

Kane is the son of Manly, NSW and Australian rugby league footballer,

Noel Cleal Noel Harvey "Crusher" Cleal (born 16 October 1958) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer and coach. A destructive for the Manly Sea Eagles, he also represented New South Wales in the State of Origin Series and the Austra ...

. He played his junior rugby league for the

Warialda Warialda is a town in the North West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia, in Gwydir Shire. Situated on the banks of Warialda Creek, the town's name means "Place of Wild Honey" in local aboriginal language. At the , Warialda had a populati ...

Wombats before joining the Hills Bulls when the family moved to Sydney. Cleal graduated from

Gilroy College Gilroy Catholic College is a Roman Catholic comprehensive co-educational secondary day school, located in Castle Hill, in the Hills District of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The College provides a Catholic and general education for stud ...

, Castle Hill in 2001 and entered the JETS program at 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 ...

Playing career

Cleal made his first grade debut for

Manly-Warringah The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rugb ...

in Round 3 of the

2004 NRL season The 2004 NRL season (also known as the 2004 Telstra Premiership due to sponsorship from Telstra) was the 97th season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the seventh run by the National Rugby League. Fifteen clubs competed dur ...

against Cronulla-Sutherland at

Shark Park Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a Chondrichthyes#Skeleton, cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified with ...

. Cleal made nine appearances in his debut season, and another five in 2005. In the

2006 NRL season The 2006 NRL season was the 99th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the ninth run by the National Rugby League. The lineup of teams remained unchanged from the previous year, with fifteen clubs competing for the 2006 Te ...

, Cleal joined South Sydney. He played nine games for Souths as the club finished last on the table. Cleal was subsequently released by Souths and he joined Canterbury-Bankstown for the

2007 NRL season The 2007 NRL season was the one hundredth season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the tenth run by the National Rugby League. Sixteen teams contested the NRL's 2007 Telstra Premiership, and with the inclusio ...

. Cleal scored his first try for

Canterbury-Bankstown Canterbury-Bankstown is a customary region of Sydney, Australia, in the south-western suburbs. The area is located around the Bankstown railway line, to the west of the St George region and to the south of the Inner West region. The suburbs o ...

in the 2007 Good Friday clash against his former club South Sydney, with the Bulldogs winning 34–10. Cleal suffered a severe broken jaw on 8 July 2007 in a tackle with

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Cronulla, in the Sutherland Shire, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugby league ...

prop

Ben Ross Benjamin David "Ben" Ross (born 23 May 1980) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. A Queensland State of Origin representative forward, he played in the National Rugby League for the St ...

. The second such injury of his career, the first occurring in the 2002 S.G Ball Cup grand final, it ended his 2007 season. In the

2008 NRL season The 2008 NRL season was the 101st season of professional rugby league club competition in Australia, and the eleventh run by the National Rugby League. For the second year, National Rugby League teams, sixteen teams competed for the 2008 Telstr ...

, Cleal only played four games for Canterbury as they club finished last on the table and claimed the wooden spoon. Cleal resigned with South Sydney for the 2009 and 2010 seasons. However, he suffered a career-ending hand injury during pre-season training and retired from the game at the end of 2009 aged 25. In 2013, Cleal signed on to play one game for the Coolah Kangaroos in the

Castlereagh Cup The Castlereagh League (also known as the Castlereagh Cup) is a rugby league competition in western New South Wales, Australia, run under the auspices of the Country Rugby League. For all intents and purposes the competition is effectively the ...

References

External links

Kane Cleal Souths ProfileKane Cleal Bulldogs Profile
1984 births Australian rugby league players Manly Warringah Sea Eagles players South Sydney Rabbitohs players Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players Rugby league props Living people Rugby league players from Sydney {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1980s-stub