William Warbrick (born 6 March 1998) is a New Zealand 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 for 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. ...

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 ...

(NRL).

Early life

Warbrick was born and raised in Kawerau, New Zealand , of Maori descent. He was educated at

Rotorua Boys' High School Rotorua Boys' High School is a state school educating boys from Year 9 to Year 13. It is situated just outside the Rotorua, Rotorua CBD at the intersection of Old Taupo Road and Pukuatua Street in Rotorua, New Zealand. History Rotorua Boys' High ...

and excelled in athletics, Rugby Union and League. Warbrick played junior rugby league for

Ngongotaha Chiefs The Ngongotaha Chiefs are a New Zealand rugby league club. They are from Ngongotahā in the Bay of Plenty. In 2000 and 2001 they competed in the Bartercard Cup but now they compete in the Bay of Plenty Rugby League competition. Notable players ...

in the

Bay of Plenty Rugby League Bay of Plenty Rugby League is the local sporting body responsible for the administration of Rugby league in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand. Following the restructuring of the New Zealand Rugby League they are part of the Upper Central Zone ...

Career

Australian rules football

Warbrick began playing

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

as a junior in 2016 on the recommendation of his junior rugby league coach and played for the Western Crows in the

AFL New Zealand AFL New Zealand is the governing body of Australian rules football in New Zealand. AFL New Zealand currently has 30,000 Registered Players. National team Australian rules football is a sport played in New Zealand rapidly gaining popularity. A ...

premiership where he won the Rising Star award and developed as a strong marking forward/midfielder. He was later selected for the

New Zealand national Australian rules football team The New Zealand national Australian rules football team ( mi, tīmi whutupaoro Ahitereiria o Aotearoa; nicknamed the Hawks ( mi, Ngā Kāhu); previously the Falcons ( mi, Ngā Kārearea), is the national men's team for the sport of Australian r ...

(U18 and senior) and toured Melbourne with the national team to play against the Australian AFL/AIS Academy team.

Rugby sevens

Warbrick made his debut for the

New Zealand national rugby sevens team The New Zealand national rugby sevens team competes in the World Rugby Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens, Summer Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games. They have won a record twelve World Rugby Sevens Series titles. The team has been of ...

in 2019. In 2021, he won a silver medal at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

Rugby league

On 4 November 2021, Warbrick signed with the

on a two-year contract. He spent the majority of the 2022 season playing for Melbourne's affiliate club

Sunshine Coast Falcons The Sunshine Coast Falcons are a rugby league football team based on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. They compete in the Queensland Cup and their home ground is Sunshine Coast Stadium. The Falcons are currently affiliated with the NRL team Melb ...

, scoring ten tries from 14 appearances 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 ...

. In round 1 of the

2023 NRL season The 2023 NRL season is the 116th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 26th season run by the National Rugby League. Teams For the 2023 season, the number of teams in the NRL has increased from sixteen to seventeen with the ...

, Warbrick made his NRL and

debut 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 ...

. He had his Storm debut jersey (cap 225) presented to him by his sister. Warbrick played a total of 25 games for Melbourne in the 2023 NRL season and scored 17 tries as Melbourne finished third on the table. In the semi-final against 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 ...

, he scored a try with two minutes remaining to win the game for Melbourne. The following week, Warbrick played in the clubs preliminary final loss against Penrith.

NRL Statistics

References

External links

Melbourne Storm profile

QRL profile

All Blacks profile
1998 births Living people Melbourne Storm players New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union flankers People from Kawerau New Zealand international rugby sevens players Olympic rugby sevens players for New Zealand New Zealand male rugby sevens players Rugby sevens players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in rugby sevens Olympic silver medalists for New Zealand Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Rugby league players from the Bay of Plenty Region Rugby union players from the Bay of Plenty Region {{NewZealand-rugbyunion-bio-1990s-stub