Brent Kite

Brent Kite (born 7 March 1981) is a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. A Tonga and Australia international, and New South Wales State of Origin representative front-row forward, he played club football for the St. George Illawarra Dragons, Manly Warringah Sea Eagles and Penrith Panthers. Kite was named the Clive Churchill Medallist for his performance in the 2008 NRL Grand Final, in which he helped steer Manly-Warringah to a 40–0 thumping of the Melbourne Storm, scoring a try.[4]

Brent Kite
Personal information
Born (1981-03-07) 7 March 1981
Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia
Playing information
Height190 cm (6 ft 3 in)
Weight105 kg (16 st 7 lb)
PositionProp, Second-row
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2002–04 St. George Illawarra 67 9 0 0 36
2005–13 Manly Sea Eagles 221 12 0 0 48
2014–15 Penrith Panthers 25 0 0 0 0
Total 313 21 0 0 84
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2000–13 Tonga 6 0 0 0 0
2004–06 NSW Country 2 0 0 0 0
2004–09 New South Wales 10 0 0 0 0
2006–09 Australia 14 0 0 0 0
Source: [1][2][3]

Background

He was born in Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia.

Kite is of Tongan descent.

Early career

And played junior football with the Queanbeyan Blues.[5] He represented the Australian Schoolboys side their tour of New Zealand in 1998.[6] He spent three years with the Canberra Raiders' lower grades sides following his graduation from Erindale College.[6][7]

Professional playing career

In late 2000 he travelled to Europe to play for the Tonga national rugby league team alongside Willie Mason in the 2000 World Cup tournament.[8][9]

St George Illawarra Dragons

Kite made his NRL debut for the St George Illawarra Dragons against the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks at Aussie Stadium on 17 March 2002.[10] Kite moved from the second-row into the front-row following injuries at St George in early 2004.[7][11] After showing good form in early 2004, Kite was selected for the Country Origin side.[10][12] Kite was also selected to represent New South Wales, playing all three games in the 2004 State of Origin series. Kite left the Dragons at the end of the 2004 NRL season with both parties citing salary cap constraints as the reason for his move to the Manly Sea Eagles.[13]

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles

Kite moved to Brookvale Oval for the 2005 NRL season, with Manly beating off the likes of Canberra for his signature.[7][13] Kite was recalled to the Blues side for the 2006 State of Origin series, where he played the first two games. Kite was also selected to play at international level for Australia, where he played in the 2006 Tri-Nations series off the bench.[14]

Kite was selected to play for the Australian national team at prop forward in the 2007 ANZAC Test victory against New Zealand.[15] Kite played all three games of the 2007 State of Origin series.[5][12] Kite played in the 2007 NRL Grand Final defeat by the Melbourne Storm.[16]

Kite was selected for the Centenary Test against New Zealand at the Sydney Cricket Ground.[17] Kite was controversially not selected for any game of the 2008 State of Origin series.[18][19][20][21]

Kite playing for the Sea Eagles in 2008

He played for Manly in the 2008 NRL Grand Final, again against Melbourne. His powerhouse display which included a try in the 59th minute helped Manly to decimate the defending premiers 40–0. For his effort, Kite was awarded the Clive Churchill Medal as man-of-the-match.[22]

Kite was named in the Tonga training squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup.[23] In August 2008, Kite was named in the Australia train-on squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup,[24][25] and in October 2008 he was selected in the final 24-man Australia squad.[26]

In May 2009, Kite was named in the 17-man squad to represent New South Wales in the opening State of Origin match on 3 June 2009, in Melbourne.[27] He was selected for Australia in the one-off test match against New Zealand on 8 May 2009.[28] In 2011, Kite won his second premiership with Manly as they defeated the New Zealand Warriors in the 2011 NRL Grand Final.[29]

In April 2013, Kite captained Tonga in their Pacific Rugby League International fixture against fierce Pacific rivals Samoa. He led his team to demolish Samoa by 36–4.

In October 2013, Kite once again captained Tonga, this time in their 2013 Rugby League World Cup campaign. However, even though he was a great leader, Tonga could not advance past the group stage. He played in all 3 of Tonga's matches.

Penrith Panthers

Kite moved to the Panthers in the 2014 season. In his first season at Penrith, Kite was part of the side which reached the preliminary final after defeating Eastern Suburbs 19–18 in week one of the finals before being defeated by Canterbury the following week and missing out on a first grand final appearance since 2003. In 2015, Kite announced it would be his final year as a professional rugby league footballer and retired at the end of the season.[30][31]

Coaching career

In 2018, Kite coached the Tweed Coast Raiders to win a Northern Rivers Regional Rugby League premiership and the NSW Country Rugby League's Clayton Cup.[32][33]


References
  1. Rugby League Project
  2. "NRL Stats". Archived from the original on 25 June 2009. Retrieved 25 June 2009.
  3. Herald Sun
  4. More importantly, Kite now coaches the Tweed Coast Raiders A grade side and led them to an NRRRL grand final win in 2018.Sydney Morning Herald Archived 8 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine 'Manly Hand Storm record thumping'
  5. "Manly Sea Eagles – Brent Kite". Arrive Alive. Archived from the original on 12 March 2008. Retrieved 4 August 2008.
  6. "Brent Kite". Queanbeyan City Council. Archived from the original on 29 August 2007. Retrieved 4 August 2008.
  7. "SFX Sports: Show Client". SFX Sports. Archived from the original on 20 July 2008. Retrieved 4 August 2008.
  8. "The Teams: Tonga". BBC. 1 January 2000. Archived from the original on 10 November 2000. Retrieved 4 August 2008.
  9. Gallagher, Brendan (29 September 2007). "Tonga deserve IRB's help". Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 4 August 2008.
  10. "History of St George Illawarra Dragons". History of St George. Retrieved 4 August 2008.
  11. "Country boy and family man is high as a Kite". League Unlimited. 4 May 2004. Retrieved 4 August 2008.
  12. "State of Origin debut leaves Brent high as a Kite". The Queanbeyan Age. 7 June 2004. Archived from the original on 6 August 2008. Retrieved 4 August 2008.
  13. "Manly confirm Kite signing". League Unlimited. 23 June 2004. Retrieved 4 August 2008.
  14. "Gillette Rugby League Tri-Nations 2006". Tri-Nations 2006. 15 July 2008. Archived from the original on 21 November 2008. Retrieved 4 August 2008.
  15. "Anzac Test Match 2007". rugbyleagueproject.org. Shawn Dollin, Andrew Ferguson and Bill Bates. Retrieved 1 September 2013.
  16. "MELBOURNE STORM – 2007 NRL PREMIERS". League Unlimited. 30 September 2007. Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 4 August 2008.
  17. "Manly's Brent Kite gets second wind". Fanatics. 19 April 2008. Retrieved 4 August 2008.
  18. "Kangaroos prop Brent Kite misses selection for Blues". Taipei Times. 14 May 2008. Retrieved 4 August 2008.
  19. "Cowboys crushed as coach heads for last supper". stuff. 18 May 2008. Retrieved 4 August 2008.
  20. "Wallace gets NSW nod". Sky Sports. 13 May 2008. Retrieved 4 August 2008.
  21. "Just one string for Kite". LeagueHQ. 23 June 2008. Archived from the original on 23 July 2008. Retrieved 4 August 2008.
  22. "Grand final: As it happened". Fox Sports. 5 October 2008. Archived from the original on 4 December 2012. Retrieved 5 October 2008.
  23. "Tug-of-war over Mason". Sky Sports. 5 August 2008. Retrieved 6 August 2008.
  24. Liam FitzGibbon (1 August 2008). "Surprises in Kangaroos squad". "Fox Sports News (Australia)". Archived from the original on 8 August 2008. Retrieved 2 August 2008.
  25. "Veteran Lockyer named in Australian squad". International Herald Tribune. 1 August 2008. Retrieved 2 August 2008.
  26. "Manly six win Australia call-up". BBC. 7 October 2008. Retrieved 7 October 2008.
  27. Fitzgibbon, Liam (25 May 2009). "NSW selectors go with form and not reputation for Origin opener". Fox Sports News (Australia). Retrieved 30 May 2009.
  28. Wald, Tom (3 May 2009). "Kangaroos selectors stick by losing World Cup team for New Zealand Test". Fox Sports. Archived from the original on 4 December 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2009.
  29. "Manly deserve more respect for sustained success, says Kite". 29 September 2013.
  30. "Major Announcement: Brent Kite". 21 August 2015.
  31. "Panthers into prelims after last-minute win over Roosters". 13 September 2014.
  32. Vivian, Steve (9 September 2018). "Raiders conquer Ballina in historic NRRRL grand final win". Tweed Daily News. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
  33. Todd, Nikki (3 October 2018). "Ziebell and Raiders take out top country league gong". Tweed Daily News. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
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