Christian Welch

Melbourne Storm prop Christian Welch may have been born in Sydney, but he was only one when the family moved to Townsville.

They relocated to Brisbane, and Welch attended Villanova College, overlooking the home ground of Brisbane Tigers, Langlands Park. Villanova had produced Wallaby skipper, Andrew Slack and rugby league Test players, Mark Thomas and Brad Meyers.

Although he played union at school, Welch also played junior league for Easts Tigers and then played in the Intrust Super Cup for the Tigers. He was signed by the Storm as an 18-year-old, and made his NRL debut in 2015.

Welch came off the bench in the Storm's 16-14 loss to Cronulla in the 2016 grand final, a result which he described as "shattering".

He missed most of 2017 with a knee injury, and was unavailable for the grand final, in which the Storm beat the Cowboys 34-6.

Welch came off the bench in the Storm's 21-6 loss to the Roosters in the 2018 grand final.

After four consecutive Queensland Emerging Origin camps, Welch earned a call up for the Queensland Maroons for Game III in Sydney in 2019, alongside fellow debutants Corey Norman and Ethan Lowe.

It was a great moment for Welch who had always looked up to Origin stalwart, Matt Scott.

Welch started in the front row in Games I and III in Queensland's triumphant 2020 campaign, and also started in Game I of the 2021 series.

In 2022, it was announced that Welch would captain the Storm, a fitting reward for the hard-working forward, who had played 117 NRL matches leading up to the start of the new season.

I grew up in Townsville, Gladstone and Brisbane idolising the Queensland jersey, so it was the proudest moment of my career making my debut.

Christian Welch FOG #202

A great club man, he is renowned for 100 per cent effort in every facet of the game.Welch completed a commerce degree in 2017, and is a director of the Rugby League Players' Association.He is also an ambassador and training volunteer for Camp Quality.

Welch suffered an Achilles injury in Round 1, 2022, ruling him out of contention for the 2022 Origin series.

The following season Welch was back to his usual best, playing 25 games for the Storm, including three finals games. He backed up in 2024, with a further 20 games for the Storm, helping the club secure the Minor Premiership and featuring in the Grand Final against Penrith.