Moeaki Fotuaika

Moeaki Fotuaika (born 16 November 1999) is a Tonga international rugby league footballer who plays as prop for the Gold Coast Titans in the National Rugby League (NRL).

Moeaki Fotuaika
Personal information
Born (1999-11-16) 16 November 1999
Gisborne, New Zealand
Height185 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Weight110 kg (17 st 5 lb)
Playing information
PositionProp
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2018– Gold Coast Titans 121 5 0 0 20
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2020–23 Queensland 6 0 0 0 0
2022 Tonga 5 1 0 0 4
Source: [1]
As of 3 September 2023

He has previously played at representative level for Queensland in the State of Origin series.

Background

Born in Gisborne, New Zealand, Fotuaika moved to Brisbane with his family in 2007 at age 7.[2][3]

He played his junior rugby league for the Greenbank Raiders and attended Keebra Park State High School before being signed by the Gold Coast Titans.[4][5]

Playing career

Early career

In 2015, Fotuaika played for the Souths Logan Magpies in the Cyril Connell Cup.[6]

In 2016, he moved up to the club's Mal Meninga Cup side.[7]

In 2017, Fotuaika joined the Gold Coast Titans, playing for their under-20s side, winning the club's Under-20 Player of the Year award.[8] On 6 May 2017, Fotuaika represented the Junior Kiwis against the Junior Kangaroos.[9]

2018

On 11 January, Fotuaika re-signed with the Titans until the end of the 2021 season, joining the club's NRL squad.[10] He began the season playing for the Tweed Heads Seagulls in the Queensland Cup.[11]

In Round 9 of the 2018 NRL season, he made his NRL debut in the Titans' 18–32 loss to the Canberra Raiders.[12] He played 16 games in his rookie season for the club, scoring two tries. On 19 September, he was selected in the Tonga 29-man squad for their Test match against Australia, but did not play.[13]

2019
Fotuaika playing for Tonga at the 2021 RLWC

On 27 August, Fotuaika extended his contract with the Titans for one season, until the end of 2022.[14] He played 21 games for the Titans before his season was cut short due to knee and wrist injuries.[15]

On 13 September, Fotuaika won the Paul Broughton Medal for Titans' Player of the Year, becoming the youngest winner of the award.[16]

2020

On 7 October, Fotuaika was named in Queensland's 27-man squad for the 2020 State of Origin series, Fotuaika would debut in Origin 2 of the series off the bench in the 34–10 loss, however Queensland would end up winning the series 2–1.[17]

2021

He played 22 games for the Gold Coast in the 2021 NRL season including the club's elimination final loss against the Sydney Roosters.[18]

2022

Fotuaika played a total of 23 games for the Gold Coast in the 2022 NRL season as the club finished 13th on the table.[19]

In October 2022 he was named in the Tonga squad for the 2021 Rugby League World Cup.[20]

2023

Fotuaika played two games for Queensland in the 2023 State of Origin series as they won the shield 2-1. He played a total of 21 matches for the Gold Coast in the 2023 NRL season as the club finished 14th on the table.[21]

Statistics
Year Team Games Tries Pts
2018 Gold Coast Titans 16 2 8
2019 21
2020 18
2021 22 3 12
2022 23
2023* 21
Totals 119 5 20

*denotes season still competing

Personal life

Fotuaika's older brother Mosese, who was a member of the Wests Tigers NRL squad, committed suicide in 2013.[22] Another older brother, Feao, plays for the Queensland Reds in Super Rugby.[23]

References
  1. Rugby League Project
  2. "18-year-old Titans prop Moeaki Fotuaika is upholding the NRL dream of his brother Mosese". Townsville Bulletin. 9 May 2018.
  3. "Petero Civoniceva helped convince Gold Coast prop Moeaki Fotuaika to play for Queensland". The Courier Mail. 30 September 2020.
  4. "Junior Kiwis prop Moeaki Fotuaika making NRL mark at 18". stuff.co.nz. 8 July 2018.
  5. "Fotuaika's inspiring story of triumph over adversity". NRL. 9 May 2018.
  6. "Rd 1 Connell & Meninga Cup results". QRL. 28 February 2015.
  7. "RESULTS: 2016 Mal Meninga Cup round 1". League Unlimited.
  8. "Anthony Don wins Paul Broughton Medal". Gold Coast Titans. 13 September 2017.
  9. "2017". 18th Man.
  10. "Moeaki Fotuaika extends Titans stay". Gold Coast Titans. 11 January 2018.
  11. "'Rivalry Round' at Piggabeen this Saturday". Gold Coast Titans. 23 March 2018.
  12. "LATE MAIL: Raiders v Titans". Gold Coast Titans. 5 May 2018.
  13. "TONGA: Hurrell & Fotuaika named in Preliminary Squad". Gold Coast Titans. 19 September 2018.
  14. "Fotuaika extends stay at Titans until end of the 2022 season". Gold Coast Titans. 27 August 2019.
  15. "Injury rules Fotuaika out of Tonga campaign". NRL. 6 September 2019.
  16. "Teenager Moeaki Fotuaika wins Titans Paul Broughton Medal". Gold Coast Titans. 13 September 2019.
  17. "Fifteen players named in Maroons squad". QRL. 7 October 2020.
  18. "'He's taken it hard': Shattered Titans rally around Herbert after blowing win". www.nrl.com. 11 September 2021.
  19. "Titans' million-dollar man goes missing as Holbrook rues costly mistake: Brutal Review". www.foxsports.com.au.
  20. Full list of every squad at the Rugby League World Cup 2021
  21. "NRL 2023: Gold Coast Titans season review". www.sportingnews.com.
  22. "The quiet one". Sydney Morning Herald. 30 April 2013.
  23. "Moeaki Fotuaika's older brother recruiting Gold Coast teens to rugby". Gold Coast Bulletin. 18 November 2019.
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