Daniel Russell (born 5 December 1995) is a Papua New Guinea 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 11 ...

footballer who plays as a forward for the

Brisbane Tigers The Brisbane Tigers are a rugby league club based at Langlands Park, in the suburb of Coorparoo in Brisbane, Australia. Since 1996, they have competed in the Queensland Cup, having competed in the Brisbane Rugby League from 1934 to 1997, where ...

in the

Intrust Super 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 ...

Background

Russell was born in

Longreach, Queensland Longreach is a town and a locality in the Longreach Region, Queensland, Australia. It is the administrative centre of the Longreach Regional Council, which was established in 2008 as a merger of the former Longreach, Ilfracombe, and Isisfor ...

, Australia and is of Papua New Guinean descent through his father, Mark, who was born in

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New ...

and raised in

Madang Madang (old German name: ''Friedrich-Wilhelmshafen'') is the capital of Madang Province and is a town with a population of 27,420 (in 2005) on the north coast of Papua New Guinea. It was first settled by the Germans in the 19th century. Histo ...

. Russell played his junior football for Emerald Brothers and attended

The Cathedral College, Rockhampton The Cathedral College is an independent Catholic systemic secondary day and boarding school for boys and girls, located in Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia. It was founded in 1991 as a Catholic co-educational college for students in Year 8 to ...

Playing career

In 2012 and 2013, Russell played for the

Central Queensland Capras Central Queensland Capras are a semi-professional rugby league football club primarily based in Rockhampton, Queensland and representing Central Queensland. They currently play in the Queensland Cup, the premier rugby league competition in Quee ...

in the

Mal Meninga Cup The Mal Meninga Cup, known as the Auswide Bank Mal Meninga Cup due to sponsorship, is a junior rugby league football competition based in Queensland, played between teams made up of players aged under 18. The competition, administered by the Q ...

. In 2014, he joined the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club Ltd., commonly referred to as the Broncos, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos play in Australia's elite c ...

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 ...

side, playing seven games for them in 2015. In 2016, Russell joined the

Souths Logan Magpies The Souths Logan Magpies, more commonly referred to by their former names Southern Suburbs Magpies, or South Brisbane Magpies, or often simply referred to as Souths, are a rugby league football club based in the southern suburbs of Brisbane, Au ...

, playing for their

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 ...

side for three seasons. On 6 October 2018, Russell started on the wing for the PNG PM's XIII in their loss to the Australian

Prime Minister's XIII Prime Minister's XIII, or sometimes informally referred to as the PM's XIII, is the name of a representative rugby league team, comprising Australian players from National Rugby League clubs that did not qualify for the NRL Finals, or whose tea ...

. On 11 October 2018, Russell signed a two-year deal with 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 ...

. He did not make his NRL debut in 2019, spending the entire season playing for the Cowboys'

feeder club, 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 ...

. He was elevated into the Cowboy's top 30 squad for the 2020 season, after spending 2019 in the development squad. On 2 October 2019, Russell represented Papua New Guinea at the

2019 Rugby League World Cup 9s The 2019 Rugby League World Cup 9s was the first staging of the Rugby League World Cup 9s tournament and took place on 18 and 19 October 2019 at Sydney's Bankwest Stadium. The tournament featured teams from 12 International Rugby League member ...

. On 9 November 2019, Russell made his Test debut for Papua New Guinea in their 20–22 loss to Fiji. On 16 November 2019, he started at in Papua New Guinea's 28–10 win over

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

. In February 2020, Russell was a member of the Cowboys'

2020 NRL Nines The 2020 NRL Nines was the fifth edition of the NRL Nines rugby league nines and the first one hosted outside of Auckland. It was played at HBF Park, Perth on 14–15 February 2020. Just like previous tournaments, it was contested by all 16 Na ...

winning squad. On 3 October 2020, the Cowboys announced that Russell would be departing the club at the end of the season without ever playing a first grade game. He missed the entire 2020 season after tearing his pectoral muscle. In 2021, he joined the

in the

Achievements and accolades

Team

: North Queensland Cowboys – Winners

References

External links

North Queensland Cowboys profileQRL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Daniel 1995 births Living people Australian people of Papua New Guinean descent Australian rugby league players Eastern Suburbs Tigers players Papua New Guinean rugby league players Papua New Guinea national rugby league team players Rugby league centres Rugby league second-rows Rugby league players from Queensland Rugby league wingers Souths Logan Magpies players Mackay Cutters players