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Kalifa Faifai Loa

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Kalifa Faifai Loa
Personal information
Born (1991-01-29) 29 January 1991 (age 33)
Wellington, New Zealand
Height180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Weight87 kg (13 st 10 lb)
Playing information
PositionWing
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2010 St. George Illawarra 2 2 0 0 8
2011–13 North Queensland 37 30 0 0 60
2014–15 Gold Coast Titans 19 14 0 0 36
2016–17 St. George Illawarra 17 15 0 0 28
Total 75 61 0 0 132
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2011 New Zealand 2 1 0 0 4
2013 Samoa 1 0 0 0 0
Source: [1]
As of 23 February 2018

Kalifa Faifai Loa (born 29 January 1991) is a professional rugby league footballer who plays as a winger for the Townsville Blackhawks in the Queensland Cup. A New Zealand and Samoa international representative, he previously played for the North Queensland Cowboys, Gold Coast Titans and the St. George Illawarra Dragons.[1] Switched codes in 2020 playing in the Townsville district rugby union for the Western Suburbs Dragons and scoring 14 tries in 14 games at full back

Background

Born in Wellington, New Zealand, Faifai Loa is of Samoan and Māori descent and played his junior football for the Marist Saints in the Auckland Rugby League competition,[2] before being signed by the Newcastle Knights. He played for the Knights' Toyota Cup team in 2008, scoring 7 tries in 10 games. The Knights sacked Faifai Loa at the end of the season after multiple disciplinary breaches. Faifai Loa said about the incident, "During my time at the Knights, some stuff happened, as it does when you're young, and I got kicked out of some homestays and that sort of thing, I also got done for drink-driving and obviously the Knights decided not to re-sign me. I remember being really homesick and I just drank and stuff like that."

Playing career

Faifai Loa playing for the Shellharbour City Dragons in 2010

St. George Illawarra Dragons

Faifai Loa returned to New Zealand before signing a contract with the St. George Illawarra Dragons starting in 2009.[2][3] As a 20-year-old, Faifai Loa scored 12 tries and broke near 100 tackles throughout the 2009 Toyota Cup season. In 2010 he averaged over 200 metres a game and scored 11 tries in 13 appearances. Altogether, he scored 29 tries in 45 games[4] and being named in the 2010 National Youth Competition Team of the Year.[5] In Round 11 of the 2010 NRL season he made his NRL debut for St. George Illawarra against the Canberra Raiders. In his second NRL game, Faifai Loa scored 2 tries. At the end of 2010, it appeared that salary cap demands would force him out of the St. George club.[6] Faifai Loa is cousins with fellow New Zealand international Jeremy Smith.[7] Faifai Loa lived with Smith when they were playing for the St. George Illawarra Dragons.

In July 2010, Faifai Loa signed a two-year contract with the North Queensland Cowboys starting in 2011.[8]

North Queensland Cowboys

In round 3 of the 2011 NRL season, Faifai Loa made his debut for the North Queensland Cowboys against the Melbourne Storm.[9][10]

After the 2011 season, Faifai Loa was selected to make his international debut for New Zealand in the test match against Australia at Ausgrid Stadium.[11] He was then selected in the New Zealand squad for the 2011 Four Nations tournament, scoring his first international try in the tournament's opening match against Australia.[12]

In December 2011, Faifai Loa re-signed with the North Queensland club for two years.[13]

On 20 April 2013 he played for Samoa in the Pacific Rugby League International against Tonga.

Gold Coast Titans

Faifai Loa played nine games for the Gold Coast in 2014, scoring 4 tries.

In 2015, Faifai Loa represented the Queensland Residents. He went on to play 7 NRL games for the Gold Coast in the same year, scoring 5 tries.

Return to the St. George Illawarra Dragons

On 12 October 2015, Faifai Loa signed a two-year contract with the St. George Illawarra Dragons starting in 2016, returning to his first team.[14] He was a member of the Illawarra Cutters 2016 Intrust Super Premiership grand final winning side.[15]

Townsville Blackhawks

In October 2017, Faifai Loa signed with Intrust Super Cup side, the Townsville Blackhawks for the 2018 season.[16]

References

  1. ^ a b "Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org". rugbyleagueproject.org. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  2. ^ a b "Three grand finalists ruled out of Kiwis". TVNZ. 7 October 2011. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
  3. ^ Lawton, Aaron (16 October 2011). "Rookie Kiwis wing credits cousin for comeback". stuff.co.nz. Archived from the original on 16 October 2011. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
  4. ^ http://www.rleague.com//db/player/f/faifai-loa_kalifa/index.php
  5. ^ "League: Honour for young Warrior". New Zealand Herald. APN Holdings NZ. 31 August 2010.
  6. ^ Barrow, Tim (7 July 2010). "NRL salary cap: Fai Fai Loa may be forced out". Illawarra Mercury. Fairfax Media.
  7. ^ "NRL: Smith cleared of Hopoate-like poke". New Zealand Herald. APN Holdings NZ. 29 April 2011.
  8. ^ "Fai Fai Loa to bolster new-look backline". Townsville Bulletin. The North Queensland Newspaper Company. 24 July 2010.
  9. ^ "Draw Results". Cowboys.com.au. Telstra Bigpond. Archived from the original on 24 March 2011. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
  10. ^ "2011 Rookie of the Year – our main contenders". www.cowboys.com.au. 5 October 2011. Archived from the original on 16 October 2011. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
  11. ^ Dillon, Robert (15 October 2011). "Faifai goes from Knights discard to Test player". Newcastle Herald. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
  12. ^ Walter, Brad (29 October 2011). "Five-star Thurston takes command for Kangaroos". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
  13. ^ Faifai Loa to remain a Cowboy until 2014 Archived 3 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Kalifa is now playing for the Gold Coast Titans from the 2014 season onwards. rleague.com, 16 December 2011
  14. ^ http://www.zerotackle.com/nrl/dragons-sign-mccrone-faifai-loa-19330/#HVJ0XL8oC3D06RrO.97
  15. ^ http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2016/09/25/hutchison-wins-nsw-cup-gf-cutters
  16. ^ "Dragons duo join the Mendi Blackhawks". Townsville Blackhawks.
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