Zac Cini (born 24 May 2000) 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 or er for 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 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 ...

Background

Cini was born in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and is of Maltese descent. Cini played his junior rugby league for the Minchinbury Jets. He later said, "I grew up supporting the Tigers. I loved

Benji Benji is a fictional character created by Joe Camp. He has been the focus of several movies from 1974 through the 2000s. It is also the title of the first film in the ''Benji'' franchise. Benji is a small, lovable mixed-breed dog with an un ...

in 2005 and I used to sit in the lounge room watching him on TV. When he played the grand final I was five and I used to go out into the yard and try to practise the Benji step."

Playing career

Early career

Cini came through the

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 ...

junior system playing in their

SG Ball The S. G. Ball Cup is a junior rugby league football competition played predominantly in New South Wales, between teams made up of players aged under 19. Teams from Canberra and Melbourne (Victoria Thunderbolts) also participate. Prior to the C ...

championship winning team of 2018, he was educated at

St Dominic's College, Penrith , motto_translation = The Lord is my Light , location = Penrith , city = Western Sydney , state = New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinates = , established = , educational_authority = New South Wales Department of Education , ...

where he made the

Australian Schoolboys rugby league team The Australian Schoolboys rugby league team is the national rugby league football team for secondary school students in Australia. The team competes against counterparts in New Zealand, known as the Junior Kiwis, England, Wales and France amon ...

in that same year.

2021

Cini was named to his debut in round 8 for the Tigers, starting on the wing against 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 ...

away at

WIN Stadium Wollongong Showground, known as WIN Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium located in Wollongong, Australia. The stadium was officially opened in 1911. From 1982 until 1998 it played host to every home match for the Illawa ...

. At the time he was leading the lower

NSW 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 ...

competition in post-contact metres, tackle breaks, runs and run metres. He scored a try and had another disallowed as he "starred" in his first game. He said after the match, "I got about 20 tickets for family and my mates organised a bus. I think there was about 50 of them that jumped on the bus and sat in that corner. You could definitely hear them. It is a dream just to play footy but to score on debut with my mates in that corner, just the support they gave was awesome and made it 10 times better."

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

said, "The flying mullet man from Minchinbury, a mad Wests Tigers fan, became an instant cult hero." Cini played a total of four matches for the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional Rugby league, 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 j ...

in 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 ...

as the club finished 13th and missed the finals. In December 2021, Cini was released by the Wests Tigers and he joined

side Newtown.

2022

Before the start of the 2022 NSW Cup season, Cini departed Newtown and signed a contract to join

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

's NSW Cup team.

References

External links

Wests Tigers profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cini, Zac 2000 births Living people Australian rugby league players Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby league wingers Western Suburbs Magpies NSW Cup players Wests Tigers players