Marcelo Montoya

Marcelo Eduardo Montoya Jr (born 17 February 1996) is a Fijian rugby league footballer who plays as a centre, winger or fullback for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the NRL and Fiji at international level.

For Argentine football goalkeeper, see Germán Montoya.

Marcelo Montoya
Personal information
Full nameMarcelo Eduardo Montoya Jr[1]
Born (1996-02-17) 17 February 1996
Lautoka, Fiji
Height189 cm (6 ft 2 in)
Weight95 kg (14 st 13 lb)
Playing information
PositionWing, Centre
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2017– Canterbury Bulldogs 51 18 0 0 72
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2016– Fiji 8 4 0 0 16
As of 20 July 2019
Source: [2]

Background

Montoya was born in Lautoka, Fiji to a Chilean father and Fijian mother, and moved to Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia at the age of three.[1]

He played his junior rugby league for the Bankstown Bulls,[3] and attended Patrician Brothers' College, Blacktown.[4]

Playing career

Early career

Montoya was signed by the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and played in their Harold Matthews Cup team.[1] He progressed through the Bulldogs' youth system, and played in their NYC team between 2014 and 2016, scoring 36 tries in 46 matches.[5] The captain of the NYC team in 2016, he also played seven games in the Bulldogs' New South Wales Cup team that year, scoring six tries.[6] Montoya's great form in the Holden Cup saw him promoted into the Bulldogs first grade NRL squad where he was on standby for the first grade team for the last few weeks of the season. On 8 October 2016, Montoya made his international debut for Fiji in an international against Samoa in Apia, playing on the wing and scoring a try in Fiji's 20–18 win.[7][8]

2017

In February 2017, Montoya was named in the Bulldogs 2017 NRL Auckland Nines squad.[9] In round 3 of the 2017 NRL season, Montoya made his NRL debut for the Bulldogs against the New Zealand Warriors where he played on the wing and scored a try in the 24-12 win at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin, New Zealand.[10] He is the first player of Chilean and South American descent to play in the NRL.[11] He scored his first career double against the Newcastle Knights on the 7th of April 2017 in a 22 points to 12 win.

On 6 June, Montoya re-signed with the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs for a further three seasons until the end of 2020.[12]

After a successful opening season in Montoya's career, the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs named him the NRL Rookie of the year.

2018

In 2018, Montoya made 15 appearances for Canterbury and scored 2 tries. In September 2018, Montoya and other Canterbury players celebrated Mad Monday at The Harbour View Hotel in Sydney's CBD. Later in the night, photographs provided by the media showed Canterbury players heavily intoxicated, stripping naked and vomiting in the street. Montoya was pictured on the street asleep by photographers after vomiting earlier. Montoya was handed a fine of $10,000 ($5000 suspended) by the club for his involvement.[13][14][15]

2019

Montoya played the first 2 games of the 2019 season at centre as Canterbury suffered back to back heavy defeats against the New Zealand Warriors and the Parramatta Eels. Montoya was subsequently one of five players demoted to reserve grade by coach Dean Pay.[16]

After spending 7 weeks in reserve grade, Montoya was recalled to the Canterbury side for their Round 9 match against the Newcastle Knights which Canterbury lost 22-10 at Suncorp Stadium.[17]

In Round 18 against Brisbane, Montoya was taken from the field during the club's 28-6 loss with an apparent leg injury. Scans later revealed that Montoya would be ruled out for the rest of the season after it was shown he had tears to his posterior cruciate ligament, lateral ligament and medial meniscal ligament.[18]

2020

Montoya made his return for Canterbury in round 8 of the 2020 NRL season, scoring a try in a 26-10 loss against Souths. In round 10 against St. George and with the scores locked at 22-22, Canterbury spread the ball left and a routine pass was thrown to Montoya who in turn dropped the ball. Saints player Corey Norman picked up the loose ball and raced away to score the match winning try on the full-time siren.[19]

Personal life

As of May 2015, Montoya is working as a teacher's aide at Casula Public School.[4] He has been an ambassador for Latin Heat Rugby League.[1][20]

gollark: Luckily my friend group is generally reachable over SMS.
gollark: Probably not and I don't like WhatsApp.
gollark: Text messages.
gollark: My current project is a phone SMS to web bridge, so I can send and receive texts from the interweb instead of my phone.
gollark: You mean, lua backend, or somehow working Lua into the design?

References
  1. "Red Hot Chile Stepper". Player's Voice. 11 February 2018. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  2. "Marcelo Montoya - Career Stats & Summary". Rugby League Project.
  3. "Subscribe to The Daily Telegraph".
  4. Thomas, Stacy (8 May 2015). "Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldog loves his time in Casula Public School". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  5. "M". NYC Database. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  6. Brunsdon, Simon (30 January 2017). "The 20-year-old Canterbury Bulldogs player on teammates' lips — Marcelo Montoya". Fox Sports. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  7. Mudunavonu, Peni (9 October 2016). "Bati wins first game in Apia". Fiji Times. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  8. Ben Glover (8 October 2016). "Samoa v Fiji rugby league Test live: kick off time, TV time, live scores, live updates". Fox Sports. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  9. "2017 Downer NRL Auckland Nines squads". NRL.com. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  10. Walshaw, Nick (17 March 2017). "The Canterbury Bulldogs have beaten the Warriors 24-12 in New Zealand". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  11. "Bulldogs Winger Marcelo Montoya is One of the NRL's Most Unusual Debutants". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
  12. Danks, Chris (6 June 2017). "Bulldogs re-sign Marcelo Montoya". Sporting News. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  13. https://wwos.nine.com.au/nrl/nrl-canterbury-bulldogs-charged-by-police-after-mad-monday-celebrations/1ff918e3-75df-4d85-b2ab-c4a7ecc4c6d7
  14. http://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/matches/Custom/NC0xNzE3LTQtLS0tLS0yMjk4OS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0=
  15. https://www.news.com.au/sport/nrl/bulldogs-mad-monday-mess-results-in-major-sponsor-walking-away/news-story/c6cbe3da49c6e54248ec603b6992dc83
  16. "NRL teams, Round 3: Bulldogs coach Pay wields axe". www.smh.com.au.
  17. "Newcastle Knights make it three straight with a 22-10 victory over Bulldogs at Suncorp Stadium". Newcastle Herald.
  18. "NRL Casualty Ward: Every injury and every club's full list plus return dates". Fox Sports.
  19. "Sea Eagles Stun Eels Dogs Blow It Late". www.abc.net.au.
  20. Burgin, Robert (29 September 2017). "Marcelo Montoya appearance honours Latin American heritage". Latin Heat. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
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