Atelea Vea

Atelea Vea is a Tongan professional rugby league footballer who currently plays for the St. George Illawarra Dragons in the National Rugby League (NRL). He is by preference a second-row but can also play at loose forward. He has previously played for the Melbourne Storm and the Cronulla Sharks. He made his first-grade début for the Sharks in 2009. He was selected to play for Tonga in the 2009 Pacific Cup.^[1]

First-grade games

Vea made his first-grade debut for the Sharks away to the Penrith Panthers, in a round 10 loss, a game in which he came on off the interchange bench.^[2] He then featured in the 26–4 loss at home to the St. George Illawarra Dragons in the next round, where he was again on the bench.^[3] His first start for the Sharks came when the side hit something of a run of form. He started at in the second-row in a narrow 13–10 win over the Parramatta Eels,^[4] and he kept his starting place in wins over New Zealand Warriors (18–10),^[5] Canberra Raiders (24–22)^[6] and the thumping 46–16 thrashing of Brisbane Broncos,^[7] all of which were consecutive appearances. He was, in round 16 at the Sydney Roosters, shuffled to lock, where the Sharks lost their first game in four.^[8] He then had to wait another 10 rounds before being selected again, in the 26–24 loss to the South Sydney Rabbitohs.^[9]

In 2011, he played for the Melbourne Storm team, playing 9 games for the team, with all appearances of the bench. His performance in a losing effort in Round 26 against the Sydney Roosters was praised by coach Craig Bellamy given the injury toll on the night.

He has signed to play for the St George Illawarra Dragons in 2012.^[10]

Representative career

He made his international début in a 44–14 defeat to Papua New Guinea, where Vea scored a try.^[11] As Tonga did not progress to the final, Vea's next game was in the third/fourth place play-off loss to Fiji.^[12]

References