Jackson Topine pronounced (/toʊpineɪ/; TOE-pin-ay) (born 22 August 2001) is a former New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who last played as a second-row forward for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the National Rugby League (NRL) and the New Zealand Māori at international level.
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Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 22 August 2001 Auckland, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 181 cm (5 ft 11 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 95 kg (14 st 13 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playing information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Second-row, Hooker | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: [1] As of 15 July 2023 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Background
editTopine was born in Auckland, New Zealand and is of Maori-Cook Island and English descent. He grew up in Perth, Western Australia.
He commenced his junior rugby league for the North Beach Sea Eagles and then the Ellenbrook Rabbitohs in the Perth Rugby League.[citation needed] Topine was then later selected for the West Coast Pirates SG Ball team, while being educated at Ellenbrook Community College.[citation needed]
In 2018, Topine was then moved to the Canterbury Bulldogs and moved to Sydney, Australia and continued to play junior rugby league for St. George Dragons JRLFC. Topine was on scholarship at East Hills Boys High School and was selected in the 2019 Australian Schoolboys.[citation needed]
Career
edit2021
editTopine played for the Māori All Stars in the 2021 All Stars match which ended in a 10–10 draw with the Australian Indigenous All Stars.[2]
Topine made his first grade debut in round 4 of the 2021 NRL season for Canterbury-Bankstown against the South Sydney Rabbitohs at Stadium Australia.[3]
Topine made a total of eight appearances for Canterbury in the 2021 NRL season as the club finished last and claimed the Wooden Spoon.[4]
2022
editTopine played three games for Canterbury in the 2022 NRL season. On 25 September, Topine played for Canterbury's NSW Cup team in their grand final loss to Penrith at the Western Sydney Stadium.[5]
2023
editTopine was limited to only five matches for Canterbury in the 2023 NRL season as the club finished 15th on the table.[6]
2024 legal case against the Bulldogs
editOn 26 April, it was announced that Topine had not returned to Bulldogs training as he had launched legal action against his former team Canterbury after it was alleged he arrived late to training and was forced to endure a wrestling session of the entire teams top 30 squad by the team trainer. Topine in his claims said he was subjected to "unlawful corporal punishment", assault, humiliation, anxiety, fear and deprivation of liberty amongst other claims. Topine said arriving late to training was simply a misunderstanding, as he believed that he had to get strapping done before the morning training session. It was claimed that Topine wanted $4 million as compensation. Topine has since not played in the NRL due to psychological damage.[7][8][9]
References
edit- ^ Rugby League Project
- ^ "'I thought it was golden point': Cody laments late call to level up". NRL.com. 20 February 2021.
- ^ "Round 4 team lists". NRL.com. 30 March 2021.
- ^ "Canterbury Bulldogs set to sign Rabbitohs star Braidon Burns, Storm prop Max King for 2022 NRL season". wwos.nine.com.au.
- ^ "NSW Cup Grand Final 2022". www.nswrl.com. Archived from the original on 29 September 2022. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
- ^ "NRL 2023: Canterbury Bulldogs season review". www.sportingnews.com. 4 September 2023.
- ^ "'Jump on him': Former Bulldogs player lodges $4m lawsuit over 'humiliating' training incident". Fox Sports. 23 April 2024. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
- ^ Snape, Jack (24 April 2024). "NRL player Jackson Topine launches legal action against Canterbury Bulldogs". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
- ^ "Nrl Bulldogs vow to 'vigorously' defend $4m lawsuit as teammates lend support". www.news.com.au.