Brent Webb

Not to be confused with Brant Webb.
Brent Webb
Webb playing for Leeds in 2010
Personal information
Full name Brent Douglas Webb[1]
Born (1979-11-08) 8 November 1979
Cairns, Queensland, Australia
Height 175 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Weight 82 kg (12 st 13 lb) [2]
Playing information
Position fullback
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2002–06 NZ Warriors 103 39 27 0 210
2007–12 Leeds Rhinos 159 89 0 0 356
2013–14 Catalans Dragons 10 2 0 0 8
Total 272 130 27 0 574
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2004–08 New Zealand 17 9 10 0 56
Source: RLP

Brent Webb (born 9 November 1979 in Cairns, Queensland, Australia) is a former professional rugby league footballer. A New Zealand national representative fullback, he previously played in the National Rugby League for the Warriors before moving to Super League with English club Leeds Rhinos, and later playing for French club Catalans Dragons.

Background

Of Torres Strait Islander descent, Webb was born in Cairns and educated at Townsville's Kirwan State High School. He played his junior rugby for the Cairns Kangaroos. He was the Queensland Cup leading try scorer in 2001 before being spotted by Daniel Anderson and signed by the New Zealand Warriors.

Professional playing career

New Zealand Warriors

Webb made his NRL debut for the Warriors in front of a home crowd against the Newcastle Knights on 1 April 2002, aged 21. He was named the Supporters' Player of the Year in 2003 and 2004. Webb became eligible for national team selection after living in New Zealand for three years. He was part of the New Zealand squad that won the 2005 Rugby League Tri-Nations. 2006 was Webb's last year for the Warriors. Despite being the club's top try-scorer with a career best 11 tries, it was a frustrating season.

Leeds Rhinos

In 2007 Webb joined Leeds in the Super League on a two-year contract. He came to Headingley fresh from being one of the players of the tournament in the Tri Nations. He became a favorite of the Leeds fans, and his attacking play earned him the chant from the South Stand spectators, 'Brent Webb is Superman!'.

Webb received a four match ban following two head high tackles in Leeds' 2007 match against Harlequins RL at the Twickenham Stoop.[3] The Kiwi international had an eventful game, being placed on report twice and sin-binned, but then scoring two tries and having a hand in others.[4]

Webb was forced to withdraw from the New Zealand squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup through injury.[5]

On 29 June 2011 Brent signed a new 1-year deal with Leeds to keep him at the club until the end of 2012, despite reports linking him with a move to newly promoted Widnes. [6] Later that year he played at fullback for Leeds in the 2011 Challenge Cup final, which was lost to Wigan.

Catalan Dragons

It was announced on 4 September 2012 that Webb had signed for the Catalans Dragons on a two-year deal. However, after a promising start, he suffered a recurrence of his back injury and subsequently lost his place in the team to Morgan Escare. After failing to recover, Webb was forced to retire from professional rugby league in 2014. [7]

Personal life

His partner Jenny gave birth to their first son in April 2007 and named him Ruben Douglas Webb, after retired Kiwis' captain Ruben Wiki.

References

  1. ↑ WEBB, BRENT DOUGLAS 2004–2006, 2008 - KIWI #708 nzleague.co.nz
  2. ↑ "Leeds Rhinos Players & Coaches 1st Team". web page. Leeds Rhinos. 2011. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
  3. ↑ "Webb suspended for four matches". BBC. 2007-08-07. Retrieved 2007-08-07.
  4. ↑ "Webb gets four-match ban". Sportinglife. 2007-08-07. Retrieved 2007-08-08.
  5. ↑ "Kiwi Webb forced out of World Cup". BBC. 2008-10-08. Retrieved 2008-10-10.
  6. ↑ 29 June 2011 superleague.co.uk
  7. ↑ Brent Webb forced to retire from rugby league.

External links

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