Playing Career
Vital Statistics
- Born
- Saturday, 4th March, 1967
- Current Age
- 59 years and 26 days
Biography
Rock-solid defence, coupled with a growing confidence with the ball, made second row forward Neil Piccinelli one of I’warra’s most valuable players during the club's 1992 semi-final campaign. The Helensburg junior was named the Steelers’ player of the year in 1993. After giving great service to the club Piccinelli signed a Super League contract in 1996. Linking with the Hunter Mariners for the divided 1997 season he joined defending premiers Newcastle after the Super League club folded. In 1999 he walked away from a six-figure contract with Souths and announced his retirement due to family commitments.
- ALAN WHITICKER
Playing Career Statistics
All statistics shown in this section are based only on data available in the RLP database, and are not necessarily a complete and/or 100% accurate representation of a player's career. This information should be used as a guide only. If you see a question mark (?), it denotes that the figure is not available.
To view a list of corresponding matches, click on the List button.
| Tour Matches | Illawarra Steelers | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | |||
| Representative Career - Australia | Comp Wins | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City vs Country | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | ||||
| Club Career - Australia | Comp Wins | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | ||||
| NSWRL/ARL/Super League/NRL Premiership | - | 188 | 40 | 23 | - | 206 | 92 | 90 | 6 | 48.94% | List | ||||
| NSWRL/ARL/Super League/NRL Finals | - | 5 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 4 | 0 | 20.00% | List | ||||
| Midweek Cup | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | ||||
| Challenge Cup AU | - | 9 | - | - | - | - | 5 | 4 | 0 | 55.56% | List | ||||
| Overall | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||||
| First Class | 191 | 40 | 23 | - | 206 | 95 | 95 | 6 | 49.74% | List | |||||
Australia - By Team | |||||||||||||||
| Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | ||||
| NSW City Firsts | 1993 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | ||||
NSWRL/ARL/Super League/NRL Premiership - By Year | |||||||||||||||
| Team | Season | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | ||||
| Illawarra | NSWRL 1989 | 16 | 3 | - | - | 12 | 1 | 14 | 1 | 6.25% | List | ||||
| Illawarra | NSWRL 1990 | 16 | 3 | - | - | 12 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 50.00% | List | ||||
| Illawarra | NSWRL 1991 | 21 | 5 | - | - | 20 | 12 | 8 | 1 | 57.14% | List | ||||
| Illawarra | NSWRL 1992 | 17 | 2 | - | - | 8 | 9 | 8 | 0 | 52.94% | List | ||||
| Illawarra | NSWRL 1993 | 22 | 4 | 11 | / | 15 | 73.33% | - | 38 | 12 | 10 | 0 | 54.55% | List | |
| Illawarra | NSWRL 1994 | 22 | 1 | 10 | / | 27 | 37.04% | - | 24 | 11 | 8 | 3 | 50.00% | List | |
| Illawarra | ARL 1995 | 17 | 6 | - | - | 24 | 10 | 7 | 0 | 58.82% | List | ||||
| Illawarra | ARL 1996 | 14 | 4 | - | - | 16 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 28.57% | List | ||||
| Hunter | Super League 1997 | 17 | 6 | 2 | / | 7 | 28.57% | - | 28 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 41.18% | List | |
| Newcastle | NRL 1998 | 26 | 6 | - | - | 24 | 18 | 7 | 1 | 69.23% | List | ||||
NSWRL/ARL/Super League/NRL Premiership - By Team | |||||||||||||||
| Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | ||||
| Illawarra | 1989-96 | 145 | 28 | 21 | / | 42 | 50.00% | - | 154 | 67 | 73 | 5 | 46.21% | List | |
| Hunter | 1997 | 17 | 6 | 2 | / | 7 | 28.57% | - | 28 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 41.18% | List | |
| Newcastle | 1998 | 26 | 6 | - | - | 24 | 18 | 7 | 1 | 69.23% | List | ||||
| Overall | 1989-1998 | 188 | 40 | 23 | / | 49 | 46.94% | 0 | 206 | 92 | 90 | 6 | 48.94% | List | |
Contributions:
Greg Fiveash, Rugby League Tables, Andrew Ferguson, AJ Lucantonio, Paul Carter, Alan Katzmann, Shawn Dollin, Terry Liberopoulos, Max Turner, Steven Russo
Sources:
David Middleton's Rugby League Yearbook (1987-88 to present), Big League
Your Say
21 Mar 2011 12:54pm
One of the most underrated players of his era, a high quality footballer. One of the Illawarra Steelers' greatest ever players.
25 Oct 2012 9:20am
Best player to not play state of origin or Australia.
25 Sep 2013 8:48pm
Without question one of the most underrated players I have seen play the game.
15 Sep 2019 1:26pm
Ono of the good guys of the game always well behaved a good role model for the game and a good person.
18 Feb 2023 1:00pm
My favorite Steeler of all time. Absolutely phenomenal workrate in both defence and attack, and surprisingly skilflul with the ball. When I got a Steelers jersey for a gift, I had his original number 11 put on the back. When he changed to number 12, I was quite upset!
24 Feb 2024 9:31pm
Definitely ahould have played rep footy
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