Shannon Mato

Shannon Mato (born 21 August 1998) is a New Zealand-born Australian rugby league footballer who plays as a for the Brisbane Broncos Women in the NRL Women's Premiership. She previously played for the Gold Coast Titans Women where she won player of the year awards in 2022 and 2023. Mato is a Queensland and Australian Jillaroos representative.

She previously played rugby union for the Queensland Reds and represented Australia.

Background Mato was born in Whangārei, New Zealand, where she played rugby league, before moving to Australia in 2011.

Playing career Rugby union In 2017, Mato represented Griffith University at the AON Uni 7s series. In 2018, she began playing for the Queensland Reds in the Super W competition. In 2019, Mato her international debut for Australia against Japan.

Rugby league In 2020, Mato joined the Wests Panthers in the Holcim Cup. On 27 September 2020, she joined the Brisbane Broncos Women in the NRL Women's Premiership. In Round 1 of the 2020 NRLW season, she made her debut for the Broncos in a 28–14 win over the New Zealand Warriors#Women's team. On 25 October 2020, she started at prop in the Broncos' Grand Final win over the Sydney Roosters.

On 13 November 2020, she made her debut for Queensland in the Women's State of Origin win over New South Wales. On 20 February 2021, she represented the Māori All Stars in their 24–0 win over the Indigenous All Stars.

Achievements and accolades Team 2020 NRLW Grand Final: Brisbane Broncos – Winners