Alex Twal
Personal information
Born (1996-07-03) 3 July 1996
Westmead, New South Wales, Australia
Height190 cm (6 ft 3 in)
Weight104 kg (16 st 5 lb)
Playing information
PositionProp, Lock
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2017– Wests Tigers 124 1 0 0 4
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2017 Lebanon 4 0 0 0 0
Source: [1]
As of 1 September 2023

Alex Twal (born 3 July 1996) is an Australian rugby league footballer who plays as a prop and lock for the Wests Tigers.

Background

Twal was born in Westmead, New South Wales, Australia. He attended Parramatta Marist High School.

Playing career

Early career

A Parramatta City Titans junior, Twal played in the Holden Cup for the Parramatta Eels and was part of their extended first grade squad in 2015 and 2016. He played for the New South Wales under-20s and the Junior Kangaroos in both 2015 and 2016.[2]

2017

Twal signed for the Wests Tigers midway through the 2017 season, from 2018 the end of 2020, before being granted an early release from Parramatta mid-season.[3] He made his first grade debut on 2 July, one day before his 21st birthday,[1] and played in the Tigers remaining eight games for the season, "putting in some seriously consistent performances off the bench."[4] With 249 tackles made and only 5 missed, Twal had the best tackle percentage in the NRL over the regular season.[5]

At season's end, Twal was selected for Lebanon in the World Cup. Teammate Tim Mannah said, "He reminds me of Nathan Brown where his personality is huge, and he's a player players love to play with. He brings a lot to a team. The Tigers are lucky to have him. He'll have a really strong career in the NRL." Coach Brad Fittler added, "He plays big minutes for a front-rower, he has a great work ethic, he's a top kid."[6] After the pool rounds, he was leading the competition in tackles made.[7]

2018

Twal made 21 appearances for Wests in 2018 as the club finished 9th on the table at the end of the regular season and missed out on the finals.[8] He again led the competition with his effective tackle percentage.[9]

2019

After round 17, Twal was rated as the 3rd hardest working player in the NRL. It was said, "Twal continues to keep producing in frightening statistics that continue to improve. The Lebanon international hasn't missed a single tackle since round 10 of the competition."[10]

Twal made 24 appearances for Wests in the 2019 NRL season as the club finished ninth on the table and missed out on the finals. The club went into the final game of the season knowing that a win over Cronulla would guarantee themselves a finals place but they were defeated 25-8 at Leichhardt Oval.[11][12][13]

On 19 November, Twal signed a two-year contract extension to stay with the club until the end of the 2022 season.[14]

2020

Twal played 12 games for Wests in the 2020 NRL season as the club missed out on the finals by finishing 11th.[15]

2021

Twal played a total of 23 games for the Wests Tigers in the 2021 NRL season as the club finished 13th and missed the finals.[16]

2022

On 16 July, Twal was ruled out for the remainder of the 2022 NRL season due to three concussions he sustained throughout the year.[17]

2023

In round 16 of the 2023 NRL season, Twal scored his first NRL try against the Melbourne Storm, in his 116th game.[18] He grabbed a loose ball in the opponent's goal after a bomb. It was written, "Twal's dry spell had become so well publicised that even the referee and Storm players were caught up in the euphoria of the moment." Twal said after the match, "It's been a long seven or eight years, playing week in and week out and never getting a try. I've found the humour in it. It was a bit of a bittersweet moment, I would have much rather come away with the result. But it was good to get the monkey off my back."[19][20] Twal played a total of 22 games for the Wests Tigers in the 2023 NRL season as the club finished with the Wooden Spoon for a second straight year.[21] On 13 October, it was reported that Twal had signed a three-year contract extension to remain at the Wests Tigers until the end of the 2027 season.[22]

Statistics

Year Team Games Tries Pts
2017 Wests Tigers 9
2018 21
2019 24
2020 12
2021 23
2022 13
2023 22 1 4
Totals 124 1 4

*stats correct as of round 27 2023

References

  1. 1 2 "Alex Twal - Career Stats & Summary". Rugby League Project. 3 July 1996. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
  2. ↑ Media, NRL Digital (3 May 2017). "Wests Tigers sign Alex Twal".
  3. ↑ "Tigers snap up young gun". 2 May 2017.
  4. ↑ Alicia Newton (25 October 2017). "10 NRL young guns of RLWC 2017". nrl.com.
  5. ↑ "Player Stats". nrl.com. Archived from the original on 10 September 2017.
  6. ↑ Christian Nicolussi. "Eels captain Tim Mannah praises Lebanon teammate and Wests Tigers recruit Alex Twal". Daily Telegraph.
  7. ↑ "Player Stats". Rugby League World Cup 2017. Archived from the original on 13 November 2017.
  8. ↑ "Wests Tigers 2018 season review". 30 October 2018.
  9. ↑ Chris Kennedy (27 January 2019). "Stat Attack: The most effective tacklers in the NRL". nrl.com.
  10. ↑ Alicia Newton (21 July 2019). "Hard Earned Highlights of the Month: Four clubs steal show". nrl.com.
  11. ↑ "Ruled out, Farah gets last-minute call-up after warm-up injury". NRL. 8 September 2019.
  12. ↑ "Robbie Farah's cryptic chat with Paul Gallen ahead of Leichhardt Oval showdown". WWOS.
  13. ↑ "Cronulla Sharks ruin fairytale for Wests Tigers' Robbie Farah". ESPN. 8 September 2019.
  14. ↑ "Tigers re-sign young gun Talau". NRL. 3 November 2020.
  15. ↑ "Wests Tigers doomed to another finals miss in 2021, Peter Sterling predicts". wwos.nine.com.au.
  16. ↑ Conrad, Alex (6 October 2021). "Wests Tigers fans savage the club's new-look logo". News.com.au.
  17. ↑ "'Heard a pop': Sharks lose flyer mid-try; Tigers gun out for season — NRL Casualty Ward". www.foxsports.com.au. 19 July 2022.
  18. ↑ "Warbrick scores four as Storm fire but Tigers celebrate Twal try". 17 June 2023.
  19. ↑ Darren Arthur (19 June 2023). "Hits and Misses: Alex Twal breaks his duck in euphoric scenes". ESPN.
  20. ↑ "Why there's nothing in the NRL quite like a big man breaking a try-scoring drought". ABC News. 15 March 2023.
  21. ↑ "'Circus act' that summed up year from hell... and big call left for Benji: Wests Tigers Brutal Review". www.foxsports.com.au.
  22. ↑ "Unwanted a month ago, Alex Twal signs new 3-year deal with Tigers". www.smh.com.au.
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