Tautau Moga

Tautau Moga (born 6 December 1993) is a Samoa international rugby league footballer who plays as a centre and winger in the National Rugby League (NRL).

Tautau "Tee" Moga
Personal information
Full nameTautau Moga
Born (1993-12-06) 6 December 1993
Ipswich, Queensland, Australia
Height193 cm (6 ft 4 in)
Weight109 kg (17 st 2 lb)
Playing information
PositionCentre, Wing
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2012–13 Sydney Roosters 14 7 0 0 28
2014–16 North Qld Cowboys 18 3 0 0 12
2017 Brisbane Broncos 27 9 0 0 36
2018–20 Newcastle Knights 14 4 0 0 16
2021 South Sydney 1 0 0 0 0
2022–23 St. George Illawarra 13 13 0 0 52
Total 87 36 0 0 144
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2014–15 Samoa 3 1 0 0 4
Source: [1]
As of 29 June 2023

He previously played for the Sydney Roosters, North Queensland Cowboys, Brisbane Broncos, Newcastle Knights, South Sydney Rabbitohs and the St George Illawarra Dragons in the NRL.

Background

He was born in Ipswich, Queensland, Australia.

Moga is of Samoan descent. Growing up in Ipswich, he played his junior rugby league for the Redbank Plains Bears and Springfield Panthers.[2] He attended St Peter Claver College in Ipswich, where he was the recipient of the 2010 Ronald Holmes memorial trophy as the school's Player of the Year. He represented the Australian Schoolboys in 2010.[3]

Moga joined the Sydney Roosters system at age 14. He took the next step and played for the Roosters SG Ball team before being fast tracked into the Toyota Cup team in 2011. Moga turned heads in the competition, scoring 18 tries in 13 games. In late 2011, he would have become the youngest Roosters debutant in 73 years if not for a new NRL rule barring players under the age of 18 from playing first grade.[4]

Playing career

2012

Moga joined the Sydney Roosters first grade squad and started the season playing in the Toyota Cup and for the Newtown Jets in the NSW Cup.

Moga playing for the Queensland under 20s side in 2012

He was selected for Queensland in the inaugural State of Origin Under 20's match at centre in the 18–14 loss against New South Wales at Penrith Stadium.[5][6]

Moga playing for the Sydney Roosters in 2012

In Round 10, Moga made his first grade NRL debut for the Sydney Roosters against the Warriors on the wing, scoring a try in the clubs 30–26 loss at Mt Smart Stadium.[7] Moga played in 14 matches and scored 7 tries in his debut year in the NRL.

2013

Moga spent the season on the sidelines after suffering two anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries. One of the injuries happened while playing in a comeback match in the NYC.[8]

2014
Moga playing for the Newtown Jets in 2014

On 29 June, Moga joined the North Queensland Cowboys mid-season, signing with them until the end of the 2016 season.[9] In Round 17, Moga made his debut for North Queensland against the St. George Illawarra Dragons at centre in the clubs 27–24 loss at Jubilee Oval.[10] In Round 21 against the Gold Coast Titans, Moga scored his first try club for the North Queensland side in the 28–8 win at 1300SMILES Stadium.[11] Moga finished his first year with the North Queensland Cowboys in the 2014 NRL season with him playing in 11 matches and scoring three tries.

On 7 October 2014, Moga was selected for the Samoan 24-man squad for the 2014 Four Nations series.[12]

On 23 October 2014, Moga alongside Samoa teammates Reni Maitua and Sauaso Sue were fined $10,000 for their involvement in a brawl in at a nightclub at Fortitude Valley.[13] The trio were dropped for 2 matches but later returned to play against New Zealand, Moga making his Samoan international debut on the wing and scoring a try in Samoa's 14–12 loss at Toll Stadium in Whangarei, New Zealand.[14] Moga played in 2 matches in the tournament.

2015

Moga played for North Queensland in the 2015 NRL Auckland Nines.[15]

On 2 May, he played for Samoa in their Polynesian Cup clash with Pacific rivals Tonga, playing at fullback in Samoa's 18–16 loss at Cbus Super Stadium.[16] During the match, he tore his Anterior cruciate ligament, having to undergo a third knee reconstruction, ruling him out for the rest of the year.[17][18]

He finished off the 2015 season early, having played in 6 matches for the North Queensland outfit.[19]

2016

In round 18 of the 2016 season, Moga made his return from injury against the Canberra Raiders.[20]

On 24 October, he signed a two-year contract with the Brisbane Broncos starting in 2017.[21]

2017

In July, after playing in 17 matches for the Brisbane club up to that point, Moga signed a three-year contract with the Newcastle Knights starting in 2018.[22]

2018

In round 1 of the 2018 season, Moga made his debut for the Newcastle side in their 19-18 golden point extra-time win over the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles.[23] In round 4, he tore his Anterior cruciate ligament while scoring a try in Newcastle's 12–30 loss against the St. George Illawarra Dragons, meaning he would miss the rest of the season after facing his fourth knee reconstruction.[24]

2019

After spending time recovering from his injury and playing in the Canterbury Cup NSW, Moga managed to play in six NRL games for the Newcastle outfit.[25]

2020

In 2020, Moga played four NRL games for the Newcastle club, spending most of the year in Canterbury Cup NSW.[26] In November, he signed a contract with the South Sydney Rabbitohs for 2021.[27]

Moga playing for the Rabbitohs in 2021

2021

Moga made only one appearance for South Sydney in the 2021 NRL season.

On 15 October, Moga signed a contract to join St. George Illawarra for the 2022 season.issue.[28]

2022

Moga debuted for St. George Illawarra in round 12 of the 2022 NRL season, scoring a try in a 34–24 victory against Canterbury. In round 23, Moga scored a hat-trick in the clubs 46–26 victory over the hapless Gold Coast side.[29] Moga finished the 2022 NRL season playing 10 games and scoring 7 tries, this was the first time he had reached double figures in games in a season since 2017.

On 21 October, Moga re-signed with St. George Illawarra for the 2023 season.

2023

On 16 April in Moga's first game of the 2023 season he scored two tries in St. George Illawarra's 14–20 loss to the Canberra Raiders.[30] In round 8, Moga scored a hat-trick in St. George Illawarra's 27–26 loss to the Sydney Roosters in the ANZAC Day game.[31] On 10 September, it was announced that Moga would be departing St. George Illawarra. He played a total of three games for the club in the 2023 NRL season scoring six tries.[32]

Alleged assault

On 11 January 2019, it was revealed that Moga had been charged by police for common assault. The incident took place on Boxing Day 2018 when Moga slapped a taxi driver twice on the head. According to police, Moga and another man allegedly were refused entry into a King Street, Newcastle pub before getting into the taxi.[33]

Moga's club Newcastle released a statement saying "The Newcastle Knights were made aware of an incident involving a player on 26 December 2018, The club alerted the NRL Integrity Unit at an appropriate time and are co-operating with the NSW Police. No further comment will be made".[34]

In April 2019, Moga was fined $60,000, half of which was suspended, by Newcastle.[35] In March 2019 Moga pleaded guilty to a charge of assault over the incident.[33]

Statistics

NRL
Statistics are correct to the end of the 2023 season[36][37]
*denotes season in progress
Season Team Matches T G GK % F/G Pts
2012 Sydney Roosters 1470—028
2014 North Queensland 1130—012
2015 North Queensland 600—00
2016 North Queensland 100—00
2017 Brisbane Broncos 2790—036
2018 Newcastle Knights 6 2 0 0 8
2019 Newcastle Knights 4 0 0 0 0
2020 Newcastle Knights 4 0 0 0 0
2021 South Sydney Rabbitohs 1 0 0 0 0
2022 St George Illawarra Dragons 10 7 0 0 28
2023 St George Illawarra Dragons 3 6 0 0 24
Career totals 87 36 0 — 0 144

International
Season Team Matches T G GK % F/G Pts
2014 Samoa 210—04
2015 Samoa 100—00
Career totals 3 1 0 — 0 4

References
  1. "Tautau Moga – Career Stats & Summary". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
  2. "Springfield Panthers hungry for more – Springfield News – Sport – Quest News". Archived from the original on 31 December 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
  3. "Teen hopes to make Schoolboys trip | Queensland Times". Qt.com.au. 8 June 2010. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
  4. "Tautau Moga Ready to Make Up for Lost Time With Leading Role in Roosters Coach Brian Smith's Plans". Australia: Fox Sports. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
  5. "Toyota U/20's Origin squads named". National Rugby League. 16 April 2012. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
  6. "NSW Secure an Impressive Victory Over Queensland in the Toyota Under 20s State of Origin Clash". Australia: Fox Sports. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
  7. "As it happened: Warriors v Roosters". Archived from the original on 8 February 2015. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  8. Proszenko, Adrian (29 June 2013). "Moga's comeback cruelled by another ACL rupture". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
  9. Proszenko, Adrian (28 June 2014). "Sydney Roosters centre Tautau Moga transfers to North Queensland Cowboys". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
  10. "Dragons Have Beaten the Cowboys 27-24". The Daily Telegraph. Sydney. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
  11. "JT guides hard-hitting Cowboys past Titans". National Rugby League. 2 August 2014. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
  12. "Toa Samoa name Four Nations squad". National Rugby League. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
  13. "England v Samoa: Wests Tigers Sauaso Sue on arrest with Reni Maitua, Tautau Moga in 2014". 5 May 2017.
  14. "Four Nations: New Zealand avoid Samoa upset with late try". Archived from the original on 17 December 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  15. "COWBOYS UNVEIL 2015 NINES SQUAD". Rugby League Week. 27 January 2015. Archived from the original on 31 January 2016. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
  16. "Sam Kasiano Try Saving Tackle on Jorge Taufua Secures Pacific Test Win for Samoa Against Tonga". Australia: Fox Sports. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  17. "Cowboys Centre Tautau Moga Suffers Career Threatening Third ACL Tear". Couriermail.com.au. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
  18. "Moga out for the season". National Rugby League. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
  19. "Custom Match List". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
  20. "Updated team lists: Raiders v Cowboys". National Rugby League. 11 July 2016. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  21. "Tautau Moga signs with Broncos". Zero Tackle. 24 October 2016. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  22. "Newcastle sign Tautau Moga". Zero Tackle. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  23. "Late mail: Knights v Manly". 9 March 2018. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  24. "Late mail: Dragons v Knights". 1 April 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
  25. "Custom Match List – Rugby League Project". Rugby League Project.
  26. "Custom Match List – Rugby League Project". Rugby League Project.
  27. DILLON, ROBERT (3 November 2020). "O'Brien hopes Moga rebounds with Rabbits after release from Knights". Newcastle Herald.
  28. "St George Illawarra Dragons sign Aaron Woods, Jack Gosiewski and Tautau Moga for 2022 season". wwos.nine.com.au.
  29. "Canberra Raiders beat Newcastle Knights to keep alive NRL finals hopes, Dragons thump Titans". Australia: ABC News.
  30. "Canberra Raiders beat Dragons,with the dragons having back to back coach killers". National Rugby League.
  31. "Victor Radley learns fate after Rooster enforcer unloads over 's***' Anzac Day sin bin call". Australia: Fox Sports.
  32. "2023 NRL Signings Tracker: Alamoti, Schneider join Penrith". National Rugby League.
  33. "'Are you dumb?': Knights centre pleads guilty to Boxing Day taxi driver assault". The Sydney Morning Herald. 21 March 2019. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
  34. "Knights centre Tautau Moga charged with common assault". Australia: Fox Sports.
  35. "Knights fine Moga for taxi driver assault". SBS News. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  36. "Tautau Moga". St George Illawarra Dragons. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  37. "Tautau Moga – Career Stats & Summary". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
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