Rod Frederick Jensen (born 19 January 1979), nicknamed 'Rocket' Rod Jensen, 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. Jensen had previously played for the Northern Pride 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 ...

, in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

for the

Huddersfield Giants Huddersfield Giants are an English professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, the birthplace of rugby league, who play in the Super League competition. They play their home games at the John Smiths Stadium which is sha ...

in the Super League,

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 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 ...

competition. He also played with 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 ...

for 5 seasons. Jensen started his career at, the now defunct Super League side, the

Adelaide Rams The Adelaide Rams were an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Adelaide, South Australia. The team was formed in 1995 for the planned rebel Super League competition. The Rams lasted two seasons, the first in the Super Le ...

in 1997.

Early life

Jensen was born in Atherton, Queensland, Australia. He attended school at St Augustine's College.

Playing career

Jensen played from the interchange bench in the

' first ever grand final in 2005, which was lost to the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West and South West Sydney. They have competed in the National Rugby League since being formed at the end of the 1999 NRL season as a joint-venture ...

. Jensen was known for his ability to play many positions with speed and agility and was nicknamed 'Rocket' accordingly. Jensen lived up to his nickname in the closing stages of the 2007 Super League with several length-of-the-field tries including a burst from his own line versus

Warrington Wolves The Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England, that competes in the Super League. They play rugby at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, having moved there from Wilderspool in 2004. Founded as Warrington ...

where he put himself forward as one of Super League's fastest men by outpacing Kevin Penny who is one of the fastest players in the Super League. Jensen scored 19 tries for the Northern Pride in the

before his retirement following the conclusion of the 2009 season. Jensen came out of retirement to rejoin the Northern Pride halfway through the 2010 season where the club went on to win the Queensland Cup premiership. He continued with the Northern Pride club for the 2011 and 2012 season before leaving to take up a position with Mareeba Gladiators.

Post-playing career

Rod Jensen is currently CEO of the Northern Pride club. Jensen is a qualified Teacher and graduated from James Cook University of North Queensland in 2005. Jensen is a candidate in the

2022 Australian federal election The 2022 Australian federal election was held on Saturday 21 May 2022 to elect members of the 47th Parliament of Australia. The incumbent Liberal/National Coalition government, led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, sought to win a fourth cons ...

to represent the

Division of Leichhardt The Division of Leichhardt is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. Geography Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the Aust ...

in Far North Queensland. He is running as a candidate of

Katter's Australian Party Katter's Australian Party (KAP) is an agrarian political party in Australia. It was founded by Bob Katter, an independent and former Nationals MP for the seat of Kennedy, with a registration application lodged to the Australian Electoral C ...

References

External links

Huddersfield sign Cowboys utility
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jensen, Rod 1979 births Living people Adelaide Rams players Australian rugby league players Australian Aboriginal rugby league team players Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Canberra Raiders players Indigenous Australian rugby league players North Queensland Cowboys players Huddersfield Giants players Northern Pride RLFC players Rugby league centres Rugby league wingers Rugby league second-rows People from Far North Queensland James Cook University alumni Rugby league players from Queensland