Zac Santo

Zachary Santo (born 8 April 1993) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays for Toulouse Olympique in the RFL Championship. He plays at fullback and wing, and formerly played for the Limoux Grizzlies, North Queensland Cowboys and the Canberra Raiders.

Zac Santo
Personal information
Full nameZachary Santo[1]
Born (1993-04-08) 8 April 1993
Townsville, Queensland, Australia
Height175 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Weight85 kg (13 st 5 lb)
Playing information
PositionFullback
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2014 North Qld Cowboys 1 0 0 0 0
2016–17 Canberra Raiders 2 1 0 0 4
2019–23 Limoux Grizzlies 2 0 0 0 0
2023– Toulouse Olympique 10 9 4 0 0
Total 15 10 4 0 4
Source: [2]
As of 21 June 2023

Background

Of Indigenous Australian Italian and Ni-Vanuatu descent, Santo was born in Townsville, Queensland, and grew up in Charters Towers. He played his junior rugby league for the Charters Towers Miners and later the Townsville Brothers, and attended Blackheath and Thornburgh College. While at Blackheath and Thornburgh, Santo was a Queensland Reds scholarship holder.[3][4]

Playing career

Early career

In 2011, Santo joined the North Queensland Cowboys NYC squad on a trial and train contract and represented the Queensland under 18s team. That year he played in the Cowboys' 2011 NYC Grand Final defeat by the New Zealand Warriors. At the end of 2012, Santo won the Cowboys' NYC Player of the Year award.

In 2013, Santo played for the Queensland under 20s team. He finished his NYC career at the end of 2013 with 65 games, scoring 49 tries.

On 5 August 2013, Santo re-signed with the Cowboys on a 2-year contract and joined the Cowboys first grade squad in 2014.[5]

2014

Santo started the 2014 season playing for the Cowboys' Queensland Cup team, the Mackay Cutters.

In round 17 of the 2014 NRL season, Santo made his NRL debut for the Cowboys against the St. George Illawarra Dragons.[6]

2015
Santo playing for the Mount Pritchard Mounties in 2016

Santo spent the 2015 season playing for another Cowboys' feeder club, the Townsville Blackhawks, in the Queensland Cup. At the end of the 2015 season, he was released by the Cowboys.

In December, Santo signed a 1-year contract with the Canberra Raiders starting in 2016.[7][8]

2016

Santo played for the Mount Pritchard Mounties in the NSW Cup. In September, Santo was named at fullback in the 2016 Intrust Super Premiership NSW Team of the Year.[9] Santo was a member of The Mounties side which lost in The NSW Cup Grand Final to Illawarra 21-20[10]

2017

Santo was named in the Canberra Raiders squad for the 2017 NRL Auckland Nines.[11] On 25 May, Santo was immediately released from his final year of his Canberra contract, and signed a one and a half year deal with the New Zealand Warriors.[12]

2018

On 16 May, Santo was granted a release from his Warriors' contract and re-joined the Townsville Blackhawks for the remainder of the season. During his time at the Warriors he didn't feature in a single NRL game.[13]

2019

On 7 August, it was revealed that Santo had signed a contract to join the Limoux Grizzlies in the Elite One Championship.[14]

2023

On 21 June, it was revealed that Santo had signed a contract to join the Toulouse Olympique in the RFL Championship.[15] On 15 October, Santo played in Toulouse Olympique's upset RFL Championship final loss against the London Broncos.[16]

Statistics

NRL
Season Team Matches T G GK % F/G Pts
2014 North Queensland 100–00
2016 Canberra 100–00
2017 Canberra 110–04
Career totals 3 1 0 — 0 4

References
  1. "Player statistics for Zachary Santo". Fox Sports Pulse. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  2. "Zac Santo - Career Stats & Summary". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  3. "Cowboys centre Antonio Winterstein endorses Santo and Rona for fullback role". Townsville Bulletin. 19 February 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  4. NRL. "devotes weekend to Vanuatu Appeal". QRL. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  5. "Cowboys lock in talent | NRL". Zero Tackle. 5 August 2013. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  6. "Team list Cowboys v Dragons 5/7/2014". Retrieved 5 July 2014.
  7. "Raiders sign Zac Santo to one-year deal | NRL". Zero Tackle. 27 September 2015. Archived from the original on 21 December 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  8. "Photographic image". Raiders.com.au. Archived from the original (JPEG) on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  9. NSWRL.com.au (26 March 2016). "2016 Intrust Super Cup Team of the Year". Zero Tackle. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  10. "Cutters upset Mounties to win Intrust Super Premiership". 25 September 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
  11. "2017 Auckland Nines squads: Every player named for the tournament". The Roar. 28 February 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  12. Long, David (25 May 2017). "Warriors sign Zac Santo, allowing Tuimoala Lolohea to go".
  13. "Zac's Back!". 16 May 2018.
  14. "Catalans live TV coverage to stop, signings for Limoux and ex-Hull KR half joins St Gaudens". Love Rugby League.
  15. "'I'm excited to join the squad' – Former NRL back joins Toulouse Olympique". Love Rugby League. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  16. "Championship Grand Final: Toulouse 14-18 London Broncos - Capital club back in Super League". www.bbc.co.uk.
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