Matthew Prior (born 27 May 1987) 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 112 ...

footballer who played as and for the

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club was formed in 1870 as Leeds St John's and play in the Super League, the top tier of English rugby league. They have played home matches at Headi ...

in the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

. He was a member of the

St. George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 after a joint-ve ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

and 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 ...

' 2016 NRL Premership winning teams. Prior has played for

Country Origin The Country New South Wales rugby league team is a representative rugby league football team. Between 1987 and 2017 there were two tiers: the Origin team that consisted of professional players who originated from clubs of the Country Rugby Leagu ...

and

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 ...

. He played as a forward and earlier in his career.

Background

Prior was born in

Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wate ...

Playing career

St George llawarra

Prior started at St. George Illawarra in 2006, making his first grade debut in round 5 of the 2008 season. In 2010 he was a member of St. George Illawarra's premiership winning side and he played in their

2010 NRL Grand Final The 2010 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2010 NRL season. Played on Sunday, 3 October at Sydney's ANZ Stadium, the match was contested by the St. George Illawarra Dragons and the Sydney Roosters. It was ...

victory. That year he signed for a further three years with the club and he played with them till the end of 2013. In round 9, 2012 he was sent off for striking

North Queensland North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its tropical northern part has been ...

captain

Johnathan Thurston Johnathan Dean Thurston (born 25 April 1983) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the National Rugby League (NRL). Thurston was an Australian international, Queensland State of Origin and Indigenous All ...

with his elbow, with his charge referred directly to the

NRL Judiciary The NRL Judiciary is the disciplinary judiciary of the National Rugby League (NRL), a rugby league competition. The Judiciary regulates the on-field conduct of players from NRL clubs. Due to changes announced on the eve of the 2022 NRL season, th ...

. He was suspended for five weeks over the incident. After the incident Prior was moved to the interchange bench for the St. George Illawarra Dragons.

Cronulla

For the 2014 season, Prior moved to the

. He was a regular member of their first grade team and in 2016 played a pivotal role in their push as premiership contenders. He gave a man of the match performance in their qualifying semi-final match 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 ...

and played in their semi-final victory over the North Queensland Cowboys to earn a place in the

2016 NRL Grand Final The 2016 NRL Grand Final was a rugby league match between the Melbourne Storm and the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks to determine the premiers of the National Rugby League for the 2016 season. The match was held at Sydney's ANZ Stadium on Sunday 2 ...

. Prior played at prop in the grand final against Melbourne which Cronulla won 14–12, claiming their first premiership since entering the competition in 1967. On 3 September 2017, Prior made his 200th appearance in The NRL. Prior played 27 games for Cronulla in 2018 as the club reached the preliminary final against Melbourne but fell short of another grand final appearance losing 22–6 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 ...

. In round 23 2019, Prior played his 250th NRL game for the Sharks in their 42–16 win over the

New Zealand Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as ...

at PointsBet Stadium in Cronulla. Prior made a total of 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. Prior played in the club's elimination final loss against Manly-Warringah 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 ...

Leeds Rhinos

On 29 November 2019, Prior signed a two-year contract to join English

team

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

. On 17 October 2020, he played in the 2020 Challenge Cup Final victory for Leeds over Salford at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

. Prior played a total of 23 games for Leeds in the

2021 Super League season Super League XXVI, known as the Betfred Super League XXVI for sponsorship reasons, was the 26th season of the Super League and 127th season of rugby league in Great Britain. The 2021 season was originally scheduled to begin on 11 March 2021, ho ...

including the club's 36–8 loss against St Helens in the semi-final. In round 21 of the 2022 Super League season, Prior was sent off in Leeds 36-32 comeback victory over the

Catalans Dragons The Catalans Dragons ( French: ''Dragons Catalans'', Catalan: ''Dracs Catalans'') are a professional rugby league club from Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales department, France. The team competes in the Super League and are the only team from ...

. On 24 September 2022, Prior played for Leeds in their 24-12 loss to

St Helens RFC St Helens R.F.C. is a professional rugby league club in St Helens, Merseyside who compete in the Super League, the top tier for rugby league in Great Britain. They are the current Champions, having won the last 4 consecutive titles, and becom ...

in the 2022 Super League Grand Final.

Representative

On 13 January 2011, Prior was named in the "Blues in waiting" squad. He attended a three-day camp at Homebush January 2013 co-ordinated by coach

Ricky Stuart Ricky John Stuart (born 7 January 1967) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who is the head coach of the Canberra Raiders in the NRL and a former rugby league footballer who played as a in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. He ...

for players deemed to have potential to feature in future New South Wales Origin teams. A surprise selection, Prior was named in the 2018 NSW Blues team for Origin 2 to replace the injured

Reagan Campbell-Gillard Reagan Campbell-Gillard (born 27 July 1993), also known by the nicknames of "Reggie" or "RCG", is a professional rugby league footballer who plays as a for the Parramatta Eels in the NRL. He has also represented both Fiji and Australia at i ...

. New South Wales went on to win the game 18-14 and win their first series since 2014. In game 3, Prior was left out of The Blues side and was replaced by

Tariq Sims Tariq ( ar, طارق) is an Arabic word and given name. Etymology The word is derived from the Arabic verb , ('), meaning "to strike", and into the agentive conjugated doer form , ('), meaning "striker". It became popular as a name after Tariq ...

. On 25 June 2021 he played for the Combined Nations All Stars in their 26–24 victory over

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, staged at the

Halliwell Jones Stadium The Halliwell Jones Stadium is a rugby league stadium in Warrington, England, which is the home ground of the Warrington Wolves. It has also staged Challenge Cup semi-finals, the European Nations Final, the National League Grand Finals' Day, ...

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

, as part of England's

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 £2 ...

preparation.

Personal life

Prior was born in

Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wate ...

and went to school at Bulli High School. Prior is a life member of the Thirroul Butchers.

Notes

External links

Leeds Rhinos profileCronulla Sharks profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prior, Matt 1987 births Living people Australian rugby league players Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Combined Nationalities rugby league team players Country New South Wales Origin rugby league team players Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks players Illawarra Cutters players Leeds Rhinos players New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players Rugby league centres Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Wollongong Rugby league props Rugby league second-rows St. George Illawarra Dragons players