Zachary Santo (born 8 April 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 currently plays for the

Limoux Grizzlies XIII Limouxin, also known as Limoux Grizzlies, are a semi-professional rugby league club from the town of Limoux in the Aude area in southern France. They play in the Elite One Championship. The club was formed in 1951. They have won the French ...

in the

Elite One Championship Elite 1 is the top level rugby league competition in France, sanctioned by the French Rugby League Federation. The season runs from September to April, which is in contrast to the majority of other major domestic rugby league competitions wor ...

. He plays at and , and formerly played for the

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 ...

and 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 ...

Background

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

and

Ni-Vanuatu Ni-Vanuatu (informally abbreviated Ni-Van) is a large group of closely related Melanesians, Melanesian ethnic groups native to the island country of Vanuatu. As such, ''Ni-Vanuatu'' are a mixed ethnolinguistic group with a shared ethnogenesis tha ...

descent, Santo was born in

Townsville, Queensland Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...

, and grew up in

Charters Towers Charters Towers is a rural town in the Charters Towers Region, Queensland, Australia. It is by road south-west from Townsville on the Flinders Highway. During the last quarter of the 19th century, the town boomed as the rich gold deposits under ...

. He played his junior rugby league for the Charters Towers Miners and later the Townsville Brothers, and attended

Blackheath and Thornburgh College Blackheath and Thornburgh College is a primary and secondary (K-12) school with boarding facilities at 55 King Street, Richmond Hill, Queensland, Richmond Hill, Charters Towers, Queensland, Charters Towers, Charters Towers Region, Queensland, Aus ...

. While at Blackheath and Thornburgh, Santo was a

Queensland Reds The Queensland Reds is the rugby union team for the Australian state of Queensland that competes in the Southern Hemisphere's Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996, they were a representative team selected from the rugby union club competition ...

scholarship holder.

Playing career

Early career

In 2011, Santo joined the

NYC New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

squad on a trial and train contract and represented the

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_ ...

under 18s team. That year he played in the Cowboys' 2011 NYC Grand Final defeat by 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 the end of 2012, Santo won the Cowboys'

Player of the Year award. In 2013, Santo played for the

under 20s team. He finished his NYC career at the end of 2013 with 65 games, scoring 49 tries. On 5 August 2013, Santo re-signed with the Cowboys on a 2-year contract and joined the Cowboys first grade squad in 2014.

2014

Santo started the 2014 season playing for the Cowboys'

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 ...

team, the

Mackay Cutters The Mackay Cutters are a semi-professional rugby league football club based in Mackay, Queensland. They compete in Queensland's top rugby league competition, the Queensland Cup. The club was admitted to the Queensland Cup in 2007, alongside th ...

. In round 17 of the

2014 NRL season The 2014 NRL season was the 107th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 17th season of the National Rugby League in Australia and New Zealand. The season started in New Zealand, for the Auckland Nines, replacing the Rugby Leagu ...

, Santo made his

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 ...

debut for the Cowboys 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 ...

2015

Santo spent the 2015 season playing for another Cowboys' feeder club, 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 ...

, in the

. At the end of the 2015 season, he was released by the Cowboys. In December, Santo signed a 1-year contract with the

starting in 2016.

2016

Santo played for the

Mount Pritchard Mounties The Mounties Rugby League Football Club (sponsored by Mounties Group) is an Australian rugby league football club based in Mount Pritchard, New South Wales formed in 1927. They currently play in the NSW Cup, Ron Massey Cup and Sydney Shield. ...

in the

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 ...

. In September, Santo was named at fullback in the 2016

Intrust Super Premiership NSW 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 reserv ...

Team of the Year. Santo was a member of The Mounties side which lost in The

Grand Final to Illawarra 21-20

2017

Santo was named in the

squad for the 2017 NRL Auckland Nines. On 25 May, Santo was immediately released from his final year of his Canberra contract, and signed a one and a half year deal with the

2018

On 16 May, Santo was granted a release from his Warriors' contract and re-joined the

for the remainder of the season. During his time at the Warriors he didn't feature in a single NRL game.

2019

On 7 August, it was revealed that Santo had signed a contract to join the

in the

Statistics

NRL

References

External links

New Zealand Warriors profileNRL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Santo, Zac 1993 births Living people Australian people of Vanuatuan descent Australian rugby league players Canberra Raiders players Indigenous Australian rugby league players Limoux Grizzlies players Mackay Cutters players Mount Pritchard Mounties players North Queensland Cowboys players Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from Townsville Rugby league wingers Townsville Blackhawks players