Brent Douglas Webb (born 9 November 1979) is a former

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

international

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 a . He previously played for 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 ...

in the NRL, before moving 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 Head ...

and 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 ou ...

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 ...

Background

Webb was born in

Cairns, Queensland Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

, Australia. He is of

Torres Strait Islander Torres Strait Islanders () are the Indigenous Melanesian people of the Torres Strait Islands, which are part of the state of Queensland, Australia. Ethnically distinct from the Aboriginal people of the rest of Australia, they are often grou ...

descent. He was educated at

Townsville 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, 30 ...

Kirwan State High School Kirwan State High School is a coeducational state school located in Kirwan, Townsville, Queensland, Australia, approximately from the Townsville CBD. In 2017, it has 1997 students with 156 teachers (145 full-time equivalent) and 75 non-teachi ...

. He played his junior rugby for the Cairns Kangaroos. He was 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 fo ...

leading try scorer in 2001 before being spotted by Daniel Anderson, and signed by the

Professional playing career

New Zealand Warriors

Webb made his NRL début for the Warriors in front of a home crowd against the Newcastle Knights on 1 April 2002, aged 21. He was named the Supporters' Player of the Year in 2003 and 2004. Webb became eligible for national team selection after living in New Zealand for three years. He was part of the New Zealand squad that won the 2005 Rugby League Tri-Nations. 2006 was Webb's last year for the Warriors. Despite being the club's top try-scorer with a career best 11 tries, it was a frustrating season.

Leeds Rhinos

In 2007 Webb joined

in the

on a two-year contract. He came to Leeds Rhinos fresh from being one of the players of the tournament in the Tri Nations. He became a favorite of the Leeds fans, and his attacking play earned him the chant from the South Stand spectators, 'Brent Webb is Superman!'. Webb received a four match ban following two head high tackles in the

2007 match against the Harlequins RL at the Twickenham Stoop. The

Kiwi Kiwi most commonly refers to: * Kiwi (bird), a flightless bird native to New Zealand * Kiwi (nickname), a nickname for New Zealanders * Kiwifruit, an edible berry * Kiwi dollar or New Zealand dollar, a unit of currency Kiwi or KIWI may also ref ...

international had an eventful game, being placed on report twice and sin-binned, but then scoring two tries and having a hand in others. Webb was forced to withdraw from the

squad for the

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup since its inauguration in 1954, and the first since the 2000 tournament. The tournament was held in Australia from 26 October, culminating in the final b ...

through injury. He played in the

2009 Super League Grand Final The 2009 Super League Grand Final was the 12th official Grand Final and conclusive and championship-deciding match of the Super League XIV season. It was held on Saturday 10 October 2009, at Old Trafford, Manchester, and was contested by defendi ...

victory over St. Helens at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after We ...

. He played in the 2010 Challenge Cup Final defeat by the

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 Warringto ...

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 ...

. On 29 June 2011 Brent signed a new 1-year deal with the

to keep him at the club until the end of 2012, despite reports linking him with a move to newly promoted

Widnes Vikings The Widnes Vikings are an English rugby league club in Widnes, Cheshire, which competes in the Betfred Championship. The club plays home matches at the Halton Stadium. Founded as Widnes Football Club, they are one of the original twenty-two ...

. Later that year he played at fullback in the 2011 Challenge Cup Final defeat by the

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors are a professional rugby league club in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Super League. Formed in 1872 as Wigan Football Club, Wigan was a founding member of the Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby ...

. He played in the 2011 Super League Grand Final victory over St. Helens at

Catalans Dragons

It was announced on 4 September 2012 that Webb had signed for the

on a two-year deal. However, after a promising start, he suffered a recurrence of his back injury and subsequently lost his place in the team to Morgan Escare. After failing to recover, Webb was forced to retire from professional rugby league in 2014.Brent Webb forced to retire from rugby league

Personal life

His partner Jenny gave birth to their first son in April 2007 and named him Ruben Douglas Webb, after retired Kiwis' captain

Ruben Wiki Ruben James Wiki (born 21 January 1973) is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. A New Zealand international representative centre-turned-prop forward, he retired with the record for most ...