Jorge Taufua
 | ||||||
| Taufua playing for the Wentworthville Magpies in 2010 | ||||||
| Personal information | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Jorge Samoa Taufua | |||||
| Born | 23 October 1991 Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia | |||||
| Height | 184 cm (6 ft 0 in) | |||||
| Weight | 102 kg (16 st 1 lb) | |||||
| Playing information | ||||||
| Position | Wing, Centre | |||||
| Club | ||||||
| Years | Team | Pld | T | G | FG | P |
| 2012– | Manly-Warringah | 50 | 31 | 0 | 0 | 124 |
| Representative | ||||||
| Years | Team | Pld | T | G | FG | P |
| 2013 | City Origin | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2013 | Tonga | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| As of 10 July 2013 | ||||||
| Source: RLP | ||||||
Jorge Taufua (born 23 October 1991 in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer for the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles of the National Rugby League. A Tonga national representative three-quarter back, he has also played for City vs Country. Taufua has played his entire club career to date with the Manly.
Background
A player of Samoan heritage Taufua was raised by his Samoan mother and Tongan stepfather. Taufua played his junior football for the Toongabbie Tigers & Wentworthville Magpies whilst attending The Hills Sports High School before being signed by the Parramatta Eels. He played for the Eels' Toyota Cup team in 2010.
Professional playing career
In 2011, Taufua signed with the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles. He played for the Sea Eagles' Toyota Cup team in 2011 before moving on to the Sea Eagles' NSW Cup reserve-grade team in 2012.[1]
In Round 4 of the 2012 NRL season, Sea Eagles coach Geoff Toovey selected Taufua to make his NRL debut from the bench for the Sea Eagles, a 6-17 loss to the St. George Illawarra Dragons at Kogarah Oval.[2]
Since being selected on the wing, and scoring his first NRL try against his former club, the Parramatta Eels in Round 5, Taufua established himself as Manly's left winger, replacing long time winger, and 2008 NRL Grand Final hero Michael Robertson, who left the club to join the London Broncos following Manly's 2011 NRL Grand Final win over the New Zealand Warriors. While some considered Taufua unlucky to miss out on the Rookie of the Year award for his impressive debut season, it was towards the end of the season and during the finals series that Taufua's potential became fully evident.
Despite many of his teammates showing the effects of a season crippled by injuries and off-field dramas, Taufua produced a string of astonishing performances, including a man-of-the-match performance in the Sea Eagles semi final win over the North Queensland Cowboys. Unfortunately for Taufua and Manly, they saved their worst performance of the season for the Preliminary Final against the Melbourne Storm in Melbourne just a week after defeating the Cowboys 22-12. The Sea Eagles bumbled and fumbled their way through a savage 40-12 loss to the eventual NRL premiers.
On 20 June 2012, Taufua re-signed with the Sea Eagles for 2 years.[3]
On 19 October 2012, Taufua was charged with assault for allegedly spitting at a Queensland Police officer at a night club on the Gold Coast.[4] He was then banned in court from entering any licensed venues in Queensland. As a result a special court hearing was needed (held on 7 March 2013) to allow him to play for the Sea Eagles in their opening match of the 2013 NRL season against the Brisbane Broncos at Suncorp Stadium, which is a licensed venue. The outcome of the hearing saw a variation to the original ruling. While still banned from entering any licensed venues, Taufua will be allowed into such venues for the purposes of his employment as a rugby league player.[5]
During the 2013 season Taufua earned his first representative selection when he played on the wing for City Origin in their 18-12 loss to Country Origin in Coffs Harbour for the annual City vs Country Origin game on 21 April. His form on the wing for Manly also saw him spoken as a possible selection for New South Wales in the State of Origin series, though he ultimately missed selection.
References
External links
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