Kurt Capewell (born 12 July 1993) 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 plays as a forward and for the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club Ltd., commonly referred to as the Broncos, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos play in Australia's elite com ...

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 previously played for the

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 ...

and

Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith that competes in the NRL. The team is based west of the centre of Sydney, at the foot of the Blue Mountains. Penrith ...

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 ...

with whom he was an NRL premiership winning player of 2021. At state representative level he has played 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 , established_ ...

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 ...

Background

Capewell was born in

Charleville, Queensland Charleville () is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Murweh, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Charleville had a population of 3,335 people. Geography Located in southwestern Queensland, Australia, Charleville is west o ...

, Australia. He is the younger cousin of former

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 ...

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 ...

and Brisbane Broncos player

Luke Capewell Luke Capewell (born 6 February 1989) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays for the Ipswich Jets after having previously played for various teams in the National Rugby League in the late 2000s and early 2010s. His prefe ...

. Capewell played his junior rugby league for

Charleville Charleville can refer to: Australia * Charleville, Queensland, a town in Australia **Charleville railway station, Queensland France * Charleville, Marne, a commune in Marne, France *Charleville-Mézières, a commune in Ardennes, France ** C ...

and the Norths Ipswich Tigers. After playing some

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

and being chosen to train with the

Ipswich Jets The Ipswich Jets are an Australian rugby league football club based in Ipswich, Queensland. Their name comes from nearby RAAF Base Amberley, one of the largest airbases in Australia. The Jets compete in the Queensland Cup competition. Originall ...

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 four ...

, he was signed by the

Playing career

Early career

In 2012 and 2013, Capewell played for the Brisbane Broncos'

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 2013, he had a stint with the

Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby league, Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won ...

' NYC team, before returning to Queensland to play for the Ipswich Jets. On 27 September 2015, he played for the Jets in their 2015 Queensland Cup Grand Final win over the

Townsville Blackhawks The Townsville & Districts Blackhawks are an Australian semi-professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, Queensland. They compete in Queensland's top rugby league competition, the Queensland Cup. The club was admitted to the Que ...

. He then went on to play for the Jets in their 2015 NRL State Championship win over

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 ...

premiers

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 ...

on 4 October that same year. On 29 October 2015, he signed a 1-year contract with the

starting in 2016.

2016

In Round 18 of the

2016 NRL season The 2016 NRL season was the 109th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 19th season run by the National Rugby League. The season started in New Zealand with the annual Auckland Nines, and was followed by the All Stars Match, w ...

, Capewell made his

debut for Cronulla against the

. In September 2016, he was named on the interchange bench in the 2016 Intrust Super Premiership NSW Team of the Year.

2017

Capewell made his first appearance of the

2017 NRL season The 2017 NRL season was the 110th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 20th season run by the National Rugby League. The season started in New Zealand with the annual Auckland Nines, and was followed by the All Stars Match, w ...

in round 2 against the

Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby ...

, playing at centre in Cronulla's 42–16 victory.

2018

Capewell made 19 appearances for Cronulla in the

2018 NRL season The 2018 NRL season was the 111th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 21st season run by the National Rugby League. The main competition, known as the 2018 Telstra Premiership due to sponsorship from Telstra, featured 16 team ...

as the club finished 4th on the table. Capewell played in Cronulla's preliminary final defeat against Melbourne at

AAMI Park The Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, known as AAMI Park for sponsorship reasons, is an outdoor sports stadium on the site of Edwin Flack Field in the Sports and Entertainment Precinct in the Melbourne central business district. When completed ...

2019

Capewell made 25 appearances for Cronulla 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 7th on the table and qualified for the finals. Capewell played from the bench in Cronulla's elimination final defeat against Manly at

Brookvale Oval Brookvale Oval (also known by the commercial sponsorship name 4 Pines Park) is a sporting ground located within Brookvale Park at Brookvale, New South Wales, Australia. The ground is owned by Northern Beaches Council and is primarily used by th ...

. On 26 November, Capewell signed a two-year deal to join Penrith starting in the

2020 NRL season The 2020 NRL season was the 113th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 23rd season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 14th consecutive year. ; Notes : : : Pre-season ...

2020

Capewell missed the first two games of the season with a quad injury before returning from injury and debuting for the

after the Covid shutdown in round 3 against the

scoring a try in a 14–14 draw. In round 5, Capewell injured his MCL in the first minute of the game against 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 ...

, in a 16–10 loss missing 12 weeks. Capewell returned in the round 17 game against the

scoring a try in the 25–12 win. Capewell played off the interchange bench in the

2020 NRL Grand Final The 2020 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2020 National Rugby League season held at Sydney's ANZ Stadium on October 25. The match was contested between minor premiers Penrith Panthers and second-placed Melbo ...

in Penrith's 26–20 loss against

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 4 November, Capewell made his Origin debut for

debuting in the centres.

2021

In round 3 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 ...

against

in the grand final rematch, he scored the match winning try in a 12–10 victory. On 1 July, Capewell signed a three-year deal with

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 ...

. On October 3, Capewell played his last game for Penrith in their 14-12 Grand final victory over South Sydney.

2022

Capewell made his

debut in Round 1, acting as captain in the absence of

Adam Reynolds Adam Reynolds (born 10 July 1990), is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who captains and plays as a for the Brisbane Broncos in the NRL. Reynolds played at representative level for the NRL All Stars, City New South Wales, ...

. He kicked the match-winning field goal in the 11-4 upset over South Sydney at Suncorp Stadium. Capewell made a total of 19 appearances for Brisbane in the 2022 season scoring five tries. Brisbane would finish the year in 9th place and miss the finals.

Personal life

In December 2020, Capewell revealed that several years earlier, he had been involved in a pornographic film with another man (Capewell believed the other person to be a woman) where he performed a sexual act. Capewell, who at the time was 20 years old and playing for the

, was taking part in a photo-shoot for a sports clothing and underwear company before it turned to nude photos then an adult movie. Capewell reflected on the incident saying "The organiser used inducements and extra money for being involved in the adult film. I take full responsibility for what happened".

References

External links

Penrith Panthers profileCronulla Sharks profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Capewell, Kurt 1993 births Living people Australian rugby league players Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks players Ipswich Jets players Newtown Jets NSW Cup players Penrith Panthers players Brisbane Broncos players Queensland Rugby League State of Origin players Rugby league second-rows Rugby league centres Rugby league wingers Rugby league players from Queensland