Jet # 517
Nat Neale made his debut for the Ipswich Jets in 2011 against the Easts Tigers in round one. He will be the 14th Jet to achieve the 100 games for the Ipswich Jets.
Easts 16 (Elijah Niko 2, Leon Panapa tries; Matt Minto 2 goals) drew Ipswich 16 (Esi Tonga 2, Donald Malone, Joseph Tomane tries)
Ipswich Jets: Marshall Chalk, Trevor Exton, Ramon Filipine, Michael Fisher, Keiron Lander, Brendon Lindsay, Jacob Ling, Tyson Lofipo, Lorenzo Maafu, Donald Malone, Brendon Marshall, Brad Meyers, Nathaniel Neale, Todd Riggs, Smith Samau, Joseph Tomane, Esi Tonga.
“Right from the first day we laid eyes on Nathaniel at training we could see he was one hell of a footballer and his early season trial games confirmed what we were thinking.
Nat is a brilliant competitor that scraps and urges and wills every last bit of energy out of his body in order to win! He gives himself selflessly to his club and team mates each and every week in the pursuit of victory.
Nat’s competitiveness is equally matched by his magnificent running game, offloading ability and his rugged defence. In recent years Nat has turned into a great forward leader, achieved with a lot of action and very little talk.”
Shane Walker- Jets’ coach.
“Runs hard and tackles hard, from the 1st minute to the 80th minute always 110% effort. Never lets his team mates down and is up there with the legend himself Dan Coburn. Congrats brother. Welcome to the hundred club.”
Tyson Lofipo- 100 games for Ipswich Jets.
“Nat arrived six years ago with a dream to play NRL. He achieved this at the Rabbitohs in their successful Grand Final year. Despite coming back to the Jets, his incredible work ethics continues and the dream of once again playing NRL is well and truly alive. He is the type of player that all coaches wish they had.”
Ben Walker- Jets’ coach