Neville Costigan
Personal information
Full name	Neville Costigan
Born	16 March 1985 (1985-03-16) (age 24)
	Rabaul, Papua New Guinea
Height	181 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	100 kg (15 st 10 lb)
Playing information
Position	Second-row
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
2003–06	Brisbane Broncos	45	4	0	0	16
2007–08	Canberra Raiders	25	5	0	0	20
2009–	St. George Illawarra	22	3	0	0	12
	Total	92	12	0	0	48
Representative
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
2007–09	Queensland	3	0	0	0	0
2008	Papua New Guinea	4	0	0	0	0
Source: NRL Stats & RLP

Neville Costigan (born 16 March 1985 in Rabaul, Papua New Guinea) is a professional rugby league footballer for the St. George Illawarra Dragons of the NRL. A Queensland State of Origin and Papua New Guinea international representative, and previously played for the Brisbane Broncos and Canberra Raiders clubs. Costigan primarily plays in the forwards.

[edit] Playing career

Costigan was born in Rabaul. His father is Australian and his mother is of Dyaul Island. He moved with his parents to Queensland at a very young age.^{[citation needed]}

Costigan won the Broncos' Rookie of the Year award for the 2003 season, and in his short time at the club established a reputation as being a big hitter in defence.

He was involved in an off field incident in 2006, and had his contract terminated by the Broncos. He signed a contract with the Canberra Raiders.

He performed well in 2007 for the Raiders and was rewarded when selected for the Queensland State of Origin side in May 2007. He retained his bench spot for the second game.

He decided to join the St. George Illawarra Dragons from the 2009 season.^[1] On 13 August 2008, Neville Costigan signed with the St. George Illawarra Dragons for 2 years starting in 2009. He was looking forward to the opportunity of reuniting with his former coach, Wayne Bennett.^[2]

In April 2009 he was named in the preliminary 25 man squad to represent Queensland in the opening State of Origin match for 2009.^[3]

He received a recall to the State of Origin arena when Ben Hannant and Petero Civoniceva were ruled out with injury, as well as Nate Myles being suspended.

[edit] Controversy

In 2006. Costigan was charged with drink driving and sacked by the Brisbane Broncos, after he was caught driving around Brisbane streets with a blood alcohol level of 0.13, almost three times the legal limit^[4][5]

[edit] Papua New Guinea

Costigan caused controversy when he said that he did not want to play for his country of birth, Papua New Guinea, as he did not feel any attachment to his place of birth and was too young to remember it. He instead wanted to play for Australia.^{[citation needed]}

He was named in the PNG squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup.^[6]

Costigan was considered one of the 2008 World Cup 'Players to Watch' by NRL Live.^[7]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Neville Costigan Canberra Raiders profile
• Official Neville Costigan NRL profile