Tautau Moga

Tautau Moga (born 6 December 1993, in Brisbane, Queensland) is an Australian professional rugby league player of Samoan descent who currently plays for the Sydney Roosters in the National Rugby League. Often compared to Sonny Bill Williams and Israel Folau,^[1] his choice of position is centre, but he can also play on the wing.

Early career

Moga grew up in Ipswich, Queensland and played his junior rugby league for the Springfield Panthers.^[2] He attended St Peter Claver College in Ipswich, where he was a stand out player for the school. He was so conscious of potentially embarrassing his opponents he would stand on the wing unless his team was behind.Moga was the recipient of the 2010 Ronald Holmes memorial trophy as the schools Player of the Year. Moga was physically bigger then most schoolboys and was required to wear the interchange forwards jersey at school as the centres jersey did not fit him. His form for St Peter Claver saw him represent the Australian Schoolboys in 2010.

Sydney Roosters

Moga joined the Roosters system at age 14, when he signed to their junior academy. He took the next step and played for the Roosters SG Ball team before being fast tracked into the Toyota Cup team in 2011. He 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.^[3]

In 2012, he joined the Roosters first grade squad and started the season playing in the Toyota Cup and for the Newtown Jets in the NSW Cup. He was selected at centre for Queensland in the inaugural State of Origin Under 20's match. He made his first grade debut in the Roosters round 10 loss to the Warriors, where he scored a try.^[4]

References