Jeremiah Nanai

#
Name: Jeremiah Nanai
Nationality: New Zealand
Position: Second-row
Height: 186 cm
Weight: 104 kgs
Current Team: Cowboys
Leagues: NRL
Seasons: 2025, 2026

In his first season with the NRL squad, Jeremiah Nanai didn’t turn 18 until February, four months after his first training session with the top squad.

The stocky second-rower was awarded the Michael Morgan Medal for best and fairest in the 2020 Aaron Payne Cup.

Signed to the Cowboys Cairns Academy as a 15-year-old, Nanai moved to Townsville for his final two years of High School at Kirwan State High and was a crucial member of the Bears’ National Championship victory in 2019.

As a Cairns product, Nanai was allocated to the Northern Pride in 2021, playing in seven games before making his NRL debut alongside Griffin Neame in Round 22 against the Wests Tigers.

Nanai took the competition by storm in 2022, scoring a remarkable 17 tries in 23 games and winning the Cowboys and NRL Rookie of the Year awards, while also representing both Queensland and Australia.

Nanai is contracted to the Cowboys until the end of the 2027 season.