Lachlan Fitzgibbon

Lachlan Fitzgibbon
Fitzgibbon in 2016
Personal information
Born (1994-01-05) 5 January 1994 (age 30)
North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Height192 cm (6 ft 4 in)
Weight107 kg (16 st 12 lb)
Playing information
PositionSecond-row
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2015–23 Newcastle Knights 119 32 0 0 128
2024– Warrington Wolves 17 1 0 0 4
Total 136 33 0 0 132
Source: [1]
As of 16 September 2023

Lachlan Fitzgibbon (born 5 January 1994) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as second-row forward for the Warrington Wolves in the Super League. He previously played for the Newcastle Knights in the NRL.

Background

Fitzgibbon was born in North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia and moved to Newcastle at a young age.

He played his junior rugby league for the South Newcastle Lions in the Newcastle Rugby League. He was then signed by the Newcastle Knights.

Fitzgibbon is the son of nib CEO Mark Fitzgibbon[2] and nephew of Australian Labor Party MP Joel Fitzgibbon. Lachlan's grandfather is Eric Fitzgibbon who was an MP for the electorate of Hunter.

Playing career

Fitzgibbon attempting to tackle Esan Marsters of the Wests Tigers in 2017

Early career

In 2013 and 2014, Fitzgibbon played for the Newcastle Knights' NYC team.[3]

2015

In 2015, Fitzgibbon moved on to the Knights' New South Wales Cup team.[4] In round 21 of the 2015 NRL season, he made his NRL debut for the Knights against the St. George Illawarra Dragons.[5] This would be Fitzgibbon's only appearance for the first grade team in the 2015 NRL season as the club finished last on the table.[6]

In August, Fitzgibbon re-signed with the Newcastle club on a two-year contract.[7][8]

On 27 September, he played in the Knights' 2015 New South Wales Cup Grand Final win over the Wyong Roos at Parramatta Stadium.[9][10]

2016

Fitzgibbon made five appearances for Newcastle in the 2016 NRL season as the club finished last for a second consecutive year. He scored his first try in the top grade against North Queensland in round 13 of the competition.[11][12]

2017

Fitzgibbon made his first NRL appearance of the 2017 NRL season in round 10, going on to play in 14 matches and scoring 8 tries as the club finished last for a third straight season.[13] In September, he re-signed with Newcastle on a two-year contract until the end of 2019.[14][15]

2018

Fitzgibbon made 21 appearances and scored nine tries for Newcastle in the 2018 NRL season as the club finished 11th on the table.[16]

2019

Fitzgibbon played 21 games and scored five tries for Newcastle in the 2019 NRL season as the club finished a disappointing 11th on the table. At the start of the year, many tipped Newcastle to reach the finals after the club recruited heavily in the off-season.[17][18]

2020

He made 17 appearances for Newcastle in the 2020 NRL season including the club's first finals game since 2013 which was an elimination finals loss against South Sydney.[19]

2021

Fitzgibbon only 10 games for Newcastle in the 2021 NRL season and did not play in the club's elimination finals loss against Parramatta.[20]

2022

Fitzgibbon was limited to only nine appearances for Newcastle in the 2022 NRL season as the club finished 14th on the table.[21]

2023

Fitzgibbon made his 100th NRL appearance in March 2023 scoring a try for Newcastle in their 14–12 win over the Wests Tigers.[22] In July, Fitzgibbon signed a three-year contract with Super League side Warrington Wolves, starting in 2024.[23]

2024

On 8 June, Fitzgibbon played in Warrington's 2024 Challenge Cup final defeat against Wigan.[24] Fitzgibbon played 14 matches for Warrington in the 2024 Super League season as the club reached the semi-final before losing to Hull Kingston Rovers.[25]

Statistics

Year Team Games Tries Pts
2015 Newcastle Knights 1 0 0
2016 5 1 4
2017 14 8 32
2018 21 9 36
2019 21 5 20
2020 17 1 4
2021 10 3 12
2022 9 0 0
2023 18 5 20
2024 Warrington Wolves 17 1 4
Totals 116 32 128

*denotes season competing

References

  1. ^ "Lachlan Fitzgibbon - Career Stats & Summary". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  2. ^ LEESON, JOSH (3 August 2015). "Fitzgibbon sees light at end of tunnel". Newcastle Herald. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  3. ^ "F". Nyc Database. 27 December 2012. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
  4. ^ "VB NSW CUP TEAMS RD 6". NSWRL. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
  5. ^ "LATE MAIL: Dragons v Knights – Knights". Newcastleknights.com.au. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
  6. ^ "Panthers hand Knights the wooden spoon". NRL.
  7. ^ "Hot Property Moses Mbye to Command 750,000 per Season". Foxpsorts.com.au. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  8. ^ "Coaching Interviews Begin". NBN News. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
  9. ^ "VB NSW Cup Grand Final Team List". NSWRL. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
  10. ^ Brett Keeble. "Newcastle Knights extend Clint Newton's career with NSW Cup win over Wyong Roos". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
  11. ^ "Sione Mata'utia says the time has come for the Knights young guns to deliver". Daily Telegraph.
  12. ^ "The worst teams in NRL history". Sporting News.
  13. ^ Ferguson, Shawn Dollin and Andrew. "Custom Match List - Rugby League Project". www.rugbyleagueproject.org. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  14. ^ "Lachlan Fitzgibbon re-signs with Knights - Zero Tackle". 6 September 2017. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  15. ^ "Knights: 2017 by the numbers". NRL.
  16. ^ "Newcastle Knights 2018 season review". NRL.
  17. ^ "Newcastle Knights: 2019 preview, draw, squad changes, news, every player, odds and ticketing". Sporting News.
  18. ^ "2019 SEASON REVIEW NEWCASTLE KNIGHT". Nothing But League.
  19. ^ "2020 season by the numbers". www.nrl.com.
  20. ^ "Parramatta Eels defeat Newcastle Knights 28-20 in NRL elimination final". ABC News. 12 September 2021.
  21. ^ "NRL 2022: Newcastle Knights season review". www.sportingnews.com.
  22. ^ "Depleted Knights hold on for inspired win over the Tigers". Newcastle Knights. 12 March 2023. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  23. ^ "What Lachlan Fitzgibbon has said about bringing his Wire move forward". Warrington Guardian. 10 July 2023.
  24. ^ "Wigan beat Warrington to win Challenge Cup". www.bbc.co.uk.
  25. ^ "Warrington Wolves 2024 season review, February and March". www.warringtonguardian.co.uk.
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