Jacob Lillyman (born 7 March 1984) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer. Throughout his career, he played for the North Queensland Cowboys, New Zealand Warriors and Newcastle Knights in the National Rugby League, while representing Queensland in State of Origin as a prop or second-row.

Jacob Lillyman
Personal information
Born (1984-03-07) 7 March 1984 (age 40)
Richmond, Queensland, Australia
Playing information
Height183 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight104 kg (16 st 5 lb)
PositionProp, Second-row
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2003–08 North Qld Cowboys 62 3 0 0 12
2009–17 New Zealand Warriors 188 6 0 0 24
2018 Newcastle Knights 15 0 0 0 0
Total 265 9 0 0 36
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2006–17 Queensland 14 0 0 0 0
Source: [1]

Early years

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Lillyman was born in Richmond, Queensland, Australia.

Lillyman attended Columba Catholic College, Charters Towers, where he was a boarding student for a while. His youth club was the Richmond Tigers in Northwest Queensland.[3]

While attending Kirwan State High School, Lillyman played for the Australian Schoolboys team in 2002.[4]

Playing career

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North Queensland Cowboys

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Lillyman made his debut for the Cowboys in round 22 of the 2003 season against the Newcastle Knights. He then went on to play sixty two games for the club, showing good enough form to earn State of Origin selection.

In 2008 Lillyman was forced to leave the North Queensland Cowboys due to salary-cap pressures,[3] and that year there ended abruptly for him when he suffered a season-ending injury in Round 15, playing against the Melbourne Storm.[5]

 
Jacob Lillyman playing for the New Zealand Warriors

New Zealand Warriors

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In June 2008, it was announced that he had signed a two-year deal with the New Zealand Warriors for the 2009 and 2010 seasons.[6][7] At that time he was joining a strong Queensland contingent at the club, which included former Cowboys Nathan Fien and Micheal Luck and well as fellow State representatives Steve Price and Brent Tate.[8][9] In August 2010 he signed a one-year extension[10] and a further two-year extension followed in May 2011 when Lillyman re-signed for the Warriors until the end of the 2013 season[11] In April 2014 he re-signed until the end of the 2017 season,[12] which would make it a straight nine years with the club. On 3 April 2016 Lillyman became the 11th player to mark 150 games for the New Zealand Warriors in their 32–28 win over the Sydney Roosters at Gosford, NSW,[13] making 159 metres, with 31 tackles.[14]

Newcastle Knights

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After 188 games with the New Zealand Warriors, Lillyman decided it was time to return to Australia, signing a one-year contract with the Newcastle Knights starting in 2018.[15]

In round 1 of the 2018 season, Lillyman made his debut for the Newcastle club in their 19-18 golden point extra-time win over the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles.[16]

In August 2018, he announced he would be retiring at the end of the 2018 season.[17]

Representative career

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Lillyman made his State of Origin debut for Queensland on 14 June 2006 coming off the bench in the 53rd minute. Lillyman was recalled to the Queensland State of Origin team for the first match on the 2011 series.

In the week leading up to Game II of the 2013 State of Origin series, it was announced that Lillyman would replace injured Sydney Roosters forward Martin Kennedy as the 18th man for Queensland in the next game of the series, marking his return to representative football.

Lillyman played for Queensland in games two and three of the 2014 State of Origin series and in all three of the 2015 State of Origin series.

A week before Game II of the 2016 State of Origin series, it was announced that Lillyman would replace injured Manly Warringah Sea Eagles prop Nate Myles for Queensland in the next game of the series.[18]

References

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  1. ^ Jacob Lillyman rugbyleagueproject.org
  2. ^ Goile, Aaron (18 May 2014). "Jacob Lillyman in line for Queensland State of Origin selection". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  3. ^ a b "Lillyman set to quit Cowboys". Australia: Fox Sports. 30 May 2008. Retrieved 30 May 2008.
  4. ^ "SportingPulse Homepage for Australian Secondary Schools Rugby League". SportingPulse. Archived from the original on 31 January 2017. Retrieved 10 October 2008.
  5. ^ 'Devastated' Lillyman accepts fate AAP, 26 June 2008
  6. ^ "Warriors sign Origin backrower". Stuff.co.nz. 19 June 2008. Retrieved 6 October 2011.[permanent dead link]
  7. ^ "2009 NRL Player Movements". NRL Live. 4 October 2008. Archived from the original on 5 October 2008. Retrieved 4 October 2008.
  8. ^ Jessup, Peter (20 June 2008). "League: Warriors still in hunt for quality". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
  9. ^ Jacob Lillyman coup for Warriors Courier Mail, 18 June 2008
  10. ^ "Jacob Lillyman re-signs with NZ Warriors". stuff.co.nz. 18 August 2010. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  11. ^ Kilgallon, Steve (29 May 2011). "Jacob Lillyman leads way for NZ Warriors". The Press. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
  12. ^ "Mannering re-signed". The New Zealand Herald. 12 April 2014. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  13. ^ "NRL: Jacob Lillyman to reach New Zealand Warriors milestone". The New Zealand Herald. 29 March 2016. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  14. ^ "Roosters v Warriors: Five key points". National Rugby League. 3 April 2016. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
  15. ^ "Jacob Lillyman signs with Knights – Zero Tackle". 5 October 2017. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  16. ^ "Late mail: Knights v Manly". 9 March 2018. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  17. ^ "Lillyman calls time on career – Zero Tackle". 7 August 2018. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
  18. ^ Glover, Ben; Walsh, Dan (13 June 2016). "Nate Myles ruled out of State of Origin II as Queensland Maroons make one change". Australia: Fox Sports. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
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