Ryan Papenhuyzen
Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Born | Kellyville, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | 10 June 1998||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 181 cm (5 ft 11 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 81 kg (12 st 11 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playing information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Position | Fullback | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: [1] As of 20 May 2021 |
Ryan Papenhuyzen (born 10 June 1998) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a fullback for the Melbourne Storm in the NRL.
Early life
Papenhuyzen was born in Sydney, Australia and is of Dutch descent.[2]
He grew up in Kellyville, New South Wales, was educated at Oakhill College, Castle Hill and represented the 2015 Australian Schoolboys. After graduating high school, he attended Australian Catholic University studying degree in Physical Activity, Health and Exercise Science.
He played touch football and played his junior rugby league for Kellyville Bushrangers, Dundas Shamrocks and the Hills District Bulls before being signed by Balmain Tigers.[3]
Career
Early career
Papenhuyzen played his junior representative rugby league for Balmain in the S. G. Ball Cup and Harold Matthews Cup. He later played for the Wests Tigers under 20s team. He then signed with Melbourne after he was released by the Wests Tigers due to the club wishing to re-sign James Tedesco.[4]
At Melbourne Papenhuyzen played for their under 20s and feeder team Sunshine Coast Falcons for 2018. With consistent performances he gained selection for New South Wales under 20s State of Origin.
2019
He made his Melbourne debut while he was only 20 years old in round 4 of the 2019 NRL season against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs.[5] Papenhuyzen had a breakout performance in round 9 against the Parramatta Eels at Suncorp Stadium, coming onto the field in the 49th minute, he scored a try, ran for 137 metres and had 3 line breaks, 2 line break assists and 2 try assists as Melbourne won 64–10.[6]
On 7 October, Papenhuyzen earned his first representative jersey as he was named in the Australian side for the 2019 Rugby League World Cup 9s. Later that day, he was named at fullback in the U23 Junior Kangaroos squad. Papenhuyzen scored 2 tries in the Junior Kangaroos’ 62–4 victory over France.
2020
In a Round 8 match against the Sydney Roosters, Melbourne were down 25-24 with 40 seconds remaining. Melbourne regathered from the kick-off and with time running out, Papenhuyzen kicked an equalising field goal, his first in the NRL.
In the 2020 NRL Grand Final, which Melbourne won 26-20, Papenhuyzen won the Clive Churchill Medal for his Man of the Match performance.[7]
Papenhuyzen was selected in the NSW Origin squad for the 2020 State of Origin series, but was withdrawn from selection for game one through injury.[8] He was not selected in the team for either game two or three.
2021
Papenhuyzen began the 2021 season at fullback and as designated goal kicker after the retirement of Cameron Smith. In Round 4, Melbourne demolished the Brisbane Broncos 40-6 with Papenhuyzen scoring four tries in 11 minutes. This equaled, what was at the time, the club record for the most scored in a single game. Papenhuyzen also kicked five goals in this game and with a combined points total of 26, he climbed into second place for the most points scored in a single game by a Melbourne Storm player. By the end of this round he was in first place on the league's list for most points scored. In Round 10 against the St. George Illawarra Dragons, Papenhuyzen suffered a severe concussion after a high tackle from Tyrell Fuimaono in the 11th minute of the game, ruling him out of a place in NSW's State of Origin squad for 2021 and ruling him out for the majority of the season. Papenhuyzen returned to Melbourne's starting side in Round 19 against the North Queensland Cowboys, playing only 33 minutes from the interchange bench.
Honours
Individual
- Clive Churchill Medal: 2020
Melbourne Storm
- Rookie of the Year: 2019
Premiers: 2020
- Back of the Year: 2020
References
- ^ Rugby League Project
- ^ "You can't Dutch this: Flyer Papenhuyzen one that got away from Tigers". SMH Sport. 15 May 2019.
- ^ "Ryan Papenhuyzen Fullback". Official NRL profile. Melbourne Storm. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
- ^ "How Wests Tigers lost Ryan Papenhuyzen and the eventual price they paid". www.theaustralian.com.
- ^ "Round 4 NRL team lists". NRL.com. 2 April 2019.
- ^ "Round 9: Storm v Eels – Eels". Parramatta Eels. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
- ^ "Do you believe in magic? The moments that decided Storm-Roosters thriller". NRL. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
- ^ "State of Origin 21-man squads named, Ryan Papenhuyzen ruled out for NSW with calf injury". abc.net.au. Retrieved 20 May 2021.