Born and raised in Lismore, Lachlan Naisby has climbed to the top in American Football in this country.

Naisby is the current captain of the Australian National Team and the road has not been an easy one.

While attending Lismore High School growing up, Lachlan's first love was soccer, playing for Italo Stars as a junior.

It was this sport that took him to the other side of the world to pursue his passion.

" I moved to the UK in 2011 when I was 18 to pursue a career playing professional soccer. I played semi-pro for a few years before playing professionally for York City reserves."

"I retired from soccer in 2017 and was looking for something new."

"I started playing American Football in 2018 for Gateshead Senators in the UK after and a work colleague and I decided to try it on a whim - I'd always been curious but had no idea about the rules, teams, or anything. After first session I was hooked."

"Since then, I've moved back to Brisbane and had the opportunity to play for both Queensland and, more recently, captain the Australian National team."

"I play Middle Linebacker on the defense and absolutely love it."

Naisby has a long list of achievements since taking up the sport. In his first year with the Gateshead Senators he earned the Rookie of the Year Award, before captaining the side in just his second year.

After returning to Australia during COVID, he linked up with the Logan City Bears winning Defensive Player of the Year in 2022 and captaining the side and earning the Most Valuable Player Award in 2023.

He won a National Championship with the Queensland Sundevils in 2023, backing that up as captain in 2024.

This year Naisby is the Australian National Team Captain, recently winning an international game against New Zealand, 20-16.

The next steps for Lachlan are simple, "The next steps for me are playing the 2025 club season and winning a Sunbowl, winning my third national championship with Queensland, and preparing for the next international game with Australia.