Michael Jennings (born 20 April, 1988, in Blacktown, New South Wales) is an Australian professional rugby league player for the Penrith Panthers of the NRL. A Tongan international and New South Wales State of Origin representative centre, he has played his whole career to date with the Pnthers.

[edit] Playing career

While attending St Dominic's College, Jennings played for the Australian Schoolboys team in 2005.^[1]

Jennings was the Rookie of the Year as well as the Player of the Year at the Penrith Panthers in 2007.^[2]

Jennings primarily plays in the centres and he can also play on the wing.

Jennings was named in the Prime Minister's XIII in 2008 and scored a try against Papua New Guinea.^[3] Jennings was also named in the Tonga squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup.^[4] He played in three matches for Tonga and scored three tries.^[5] While he was also named in the preliminary 46-man Kangaroos squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup,^[6][7] he was not selected to play.

He was selected for City in the City vs Country match on 8 May 2009.

In May 2009, Jennings was named in the 17 man squad to represent New South Wales in the opening State of Origin match on 3 June, 2009, in Melbourne.^[8] Jennings went on to play in the third State of Origin game of the series after missing the second due to injury.

At the end of the 2009 NRL season, Jennings travelled to Europe with the Australian team for the 2009 Four Nations tournament. He made his debut for the Kangaroos in the match against France and scored a hat-trick. Jennings thus became the 4th Kangaroo since Lionel Morgan in 1960, Brad Mackay in 1990 and David Williams in 2008 to score a hat-trick on debut for Australia.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Penrith Panthers profile

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