Brent Kite
Encyclopedia
Brent Kite is an Australian professional rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...

 footballer currently playing in the NRL
National Rugby League
The National Rugby League is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership , is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand...

 with the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. They compete in the National Rugby League's Telstra Premiership, the premier rugby league competition of Australasia...

. A Tonga and Australia international, and New South Wales State of Origin representative front-row forward, he has played club football for the St. George Illawarra Dragons and the Sea Eagles. Kite was named the Clive Churchill
Clive Churchill
Clive Bernard Churchill AM was an Australian rugby league footballer and coach of the mid-20th century. An Australian international and New South Wales and Queensland interstate representative fullback, he played the majority of his club football with and later coached the South Sydney Rabbitohs...

 Medallist for his performance in the Grand Final in 2008, in which he helped steer Manly-Warringah to a 40 - 0 thumping of the Melbourne Storm
Melbourne Storm
The Melbourne Storm are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the city of Melbourne. They are the first fully professional rugby league team based in the Australian rules football-dominated state of Victoria....

, scoring one try.

NRL

Early career

Kite played junior football with the Queanbeyan Blues. He represented the Australian Schoolboys
Australian schoolboys
The Australian Schoolboys refer to junior teams that represent Australia in various sports. The name is mainly used in rugby league, rugby union and baseball...

 side their tour of New Zealand in 1998. He spent three years with the Canberra Raiders
Canberra Raiders
The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership since 1982...

 lower grades sides following his graduation from Erindale College
Erindale College
Erindale College may refer to:* Erindale College, a secondary college located in Wanniassa, Australian Capital Territory* Erindale College, an alternate name for the University of Toronto Mississauga...

. In late 2000 he travelled to Europe to represent Tonga alongside Willie Mason
Willie Mason
William Marshall "Willie" Mason is an Australian professional rugby union footballer for Toulon in the Top 14 competition, having previously being a rugby league footballer for Hull KR in the European Super League.Mason signed a 3-year contract with Hull KR in September 2010, pending a successful...

 in the 2000 World Cup
2000 Rugby League World Cup
The 2000 Rugby League World Cup was the twelfth staging of the Rugby League World Cup and was held during October and November of that year in Great Britain, Ireland and France...

.

St George Illawarra Dragons

Kite made his first grade debut for the St George Illawarra Dragons against the Cronulla Sharks
Cronulla Sharks
The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are Australian professional Rugby league team based in Cronulla, in the Sutherland Shire, Southern Sydney, New South Wales...

 at Aussie Stadium
Aussie Stadium
Sydney Football Stadium is located in Moore Park, in Sydney, New South Wales. It was built in 1988, to be the city's premier "rectangular field" for rugby league, rugby union and football for major matches and domestic competition...

 on 17 March 2002. Kite moved from the second-row into the front-row following injuries at St George
St George Illawarra Dragons
The St George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing the St. George and Illawarra regions. They have competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 as a joint venture between Sydney's historic St. George Dragons club and 1982 expansion club, the...

 in early 2004. Kite left the Dragons
St George Illawarra Dragons
The St George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing the St. George and Illawarra regions. They have competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 as a joint venture between Sydney's historic St. George Dragons club and 1982 expansion club, the...

 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.

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles

Kite moved to the Brookvale Oval
Brookvale Oval
Brookvale Oval is a sporting ground located within Brookvale Park at Brookvale, New South Wales, Australia. The ground is owned by Warringah Council and is primarily used by the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles rugby league team...

 for the 2005 NRL season
National Rugby League season 2005
The 2005 NRL season was the 98th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the eighth run by the National Rugby League. The lineup of clubs remained unchanged from the previous year, with fifteen clubs contesting the 2005 Telstra Premiership, which culminated in a grand final...

, with Manly
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. They compete in the National Rugby League's Telstra Premiership, the premier rugby league competition of Australasia...

 beating off the likes of Canberra
Canberra Raiders
The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership since 1982...

 for his signature. Kite played in the 2007 NRL Grand Final defeat to the Melbourne Storm
Melbourne Storm
The Melbourne Storm are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the city of Melbourne. They are the first fully professional rugby league team based in the Australian rules football-dominated state of Victoria....

. where they were thumped by Storm 8-34. Kite played in the 2008 NRL Grand Final for Manly, 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
Clive Churchill Medal
The Clive Churchill Medal has been presented to the man-of-the-match of the National Rugby League's annual Grand Final match ever since the 1986 season. The award was created to honour Clive Churchill, one of the greatest rugby league players in Australian history, following his death in 1985...

 as man-of-the-match. Kite has a contract with the Manly Sea Eagles until the end of the 2011 season.

Representative career

Tonga

Kite played at international level for Tonga
Tonga national rugby league team
The Tonga national rugby league team is a national sporting side, representing Tonga in rugby league football. Rugby league is a popular sport in Tonga, and the national team has become one of the best performed nations in the world...

 at the 2000 Rugby League World Cup
2000 Rugby League World Cup
The 2000 Rugby League World Cup was the twelfth staging of the Rugby League World Cup and was held during October and November of that year in Great Britain, Ireland and France...

. He was named in the Tonga training squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup
2008 Rugby League World Cup
The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup since the inauguration of the tournament in 1954, and the first since the 2000 event...

.

Country Origin

After showing good form in early 2004, Kite was selected for the Country Origin side.

New South Wales

Kite has also represented New South Wales
New South Wales Rugby League team
The New South Wales rugby league team has represented the Australian state of New South Wales in rugby league football since the sport's beginnings there in 1907. Administered by the New South Wales Rugby League, the team competes in the annual State of Origin series against arch-rivals, the...

 in State of Origin
Rugby League State of Origin
State of Origin is an annual best of three series of rugby league football matches contested by the Maroons and the Blues, who represent the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales respectively...

, playing all three games in 2004, before getting a recall in 2006, where he played the first two games. Kite played all three games of the 2007 series. He was controversially not selected for any game of the 2008 series.

In May 2009, Kite was named in the 17 man squad to represent New South Wales in the opening State of Origin
Rugby League State of Origin
State of Origin is an annual best of three series of rugby league football matches contested by the Maroons and the Blues, who represent the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales respectively...

 match on 3 June 2009, in Melbourne.

Australia

Kite has also played at international level for Australia
Australian national rugby league team
The Australian national rugby league team have represented Australia in senior men's rugby league football competition since the establishment of the game in Australia in 1908. Administered by the Australian Rugby League, the Kangaroos' are ranked number one in the RLIF World Rankings...

, where he played in the 2006 Tri-Nations
Rugby League Tri-Nations
The Rugby League Tri-Nations was a rugby league tournament involving the top three nations in the sport: Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand...

 series off the bench. He played again in the 2007 ANZAC test. Kite was selected for the Centenary Test against New Zealand
New Zealand national rugby league team
The New Zealand national rugby league team has represented New Zealand in rugby league football since intercontinental competition began for the sport in 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are commonly known as the Kiwis, after the native bird of that name...

 at the Sydney Cricket Ground
Sydney Cricket Ground
The Sydney Cricket Ground is a sports stadium in Sydney in Australia. It is used for Australian football, Test cricket, One Day International cricket, some rugby league and rugby union matches and is the home ground for the New South Wales Blues cricket team and the Sydney Swans of the Australian...

. In August 2008, Kite was named in the Australia train-on squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup
2008 Rugby League World Cup
The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup since the inauguration of the tournament in 1954, and the first since the 2000 event...

, and in October 2008 he was selected in the final 24-man Australia squad. He was selected for Australia in the one-off test match against New Zealand
New Zealand national rugby league team
The New Zealand national rugby league team has represented New Zealand in rugby league football since intercontinental competition began for the sport in 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are commonly known as the Kiwis, after the native bird of that name...

 on 8 May 2009.

External links

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