Jason Taumalolo

Jason Taumalolo
Personal information
Full name Vaai Taumalolo[1]
Born 31 May 1993
Auckland, New Zealand
Height 191 cm (6 ft 3 in)
Weight 110 kg (17 st 5 lb)
Playing information
Position Second-row, Lock
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2010– North Queensland 68 15 0 0 60
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2013 Tonga 3 1 0 0 4
2014 New Zealand 4 0 0 0 0
2015 NRL All Stars 1 0 0 0 0
Source: [2][3]

Jason Taumalolo (born 31 May 1993, in Auckland, New Zealand) is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who currently plays for the North Queensland Cowboys of the National Rugby League competition.

Early career

Born in Auckland and growing up in Mangere, Taumalolo started playing rugby league at the age of 4 for Papakura. He attended De La Salle College. Taumalolo moved to Townsville at the age of 12 after being scouted by the Cowboys while playing for a New Zealand under 16's touring team. He attended Kirwan State High School and played his junior football for the Kirwan Bears and Townsville Brothers. He earned a scholarship with the Cowboys and would go on to represent the Queensland under 18's and Australian schoolboys at the age of 16.[4]

Playing career

Taumalolo debuted for the Cowboys under 20's in 2010 and played over 50 Toyota Cup games, including the Cowboys golden point loss to the Warriors in the grand final in 2011.

Taumalolo was the youngest player ever to make his debut for the Cowboys, aged 17 years, 2 months and 21 days, when he came off the bench against the Bulldogs in 2010. He would make his second NRL appearance for North Queensland almost a year later in 2011, when he came off the bench in a loss to South Sydney in round 24. He later starred for the Cowboys in round 25 against Cronulla, coming off the bench for the 3rd time to score 2 crucial tries and making 2 line breaks and 125 metres.[5][6] At the end of the season he was awarded the Rugby League Player's Association's Toyota Cup Player of the Year award and was named in the Toyota Cup Team of the Year in the second row.[7]

In 2012 he was described as the "next Sonny Bill Williams".[8]

In February 2012, he re-signed with the Cowboys until the end of the 2015 season. [9] Jason played 17 games for the Cowboys in 2012, the most he had played in a single season to date.

Jason Taumalolo was a standout in the Intrust Super Cup in season 2013 Intrust Super Cup season, playing for Cowboys feeder club, The Mackay Cutters, Taumalolo went on to win the competition along with his Cutters team mates in 2013, they honored their Queensland Cup Trophy win to fallen team mate Alex Elisala. Many experts and fans alike questioned why Jason wasn't a more permanent fixture for the Cowboys in 2013, but would later go on to star for the club at the backend of the season including the clubs semi final loss to Cronulla, albeit controversial. Taumalolo made 14 appearances for the club in 2013.

2014 was a stand out season for Taumalolo. He played 23 regular season games for the Cowboys and was a major influence on the teams success to finish 5th. He made 241 hitups at 2889 metres gained. Taumalolo also went on to make 2 finals appearances for the Cowboys, taking his tally up to 25 games in season 2014.[10] He would go on to represent New Zealand in the Four Nations tournament at seasons end.

Representative career

Taumalolo played for the Junior Kiwis in 2010 and 2011.[11] They lost to Australia 16-24 but won the second match 32-20 after trailing 0-20 at halftime.[12][13]

In March 2012, Taumalolo was reported to have declared his allegiance to Queensland and Australia. However, a statement from North Queensland Cowboys indicated that no official decision had been made. Being born and raised in New Zealand and playing most of his junior football in Australia, the two countries were in a tug of war for Taumalolo's services.

On 7 April 2012, New Zealand Rugby League's high performance manager Tony Kemp confirmed that Taumalolo had pledged allegiance to his country of birth, New Zealand.[14] While in 2014, the whole ordeal started again after Taumalolo enjoyed his best season in top grade yet, in the end, Taumalolo pledged his allegiance to New Zealand and latter went on to win the Four Nations series at the end of the season.

He was named as a reserve in the New Zealand squad for the 2012 ANZAC Test against Australia, but was not selected to play. He also played for the 2012 Junior Kiwis.[15]

On the 20th of April 2013, Jason played for Tonga in their Pacific Rugby League International clash against fierce rivals Samoa.

In October, Jason played for Tonga in their 2013 Rugby League World Cup campaign. He played in 2 of their 3 matches. Jason scored one try against Pacific rivals the Cook Islands in Tonga's 22-16 inter-group match win.

2014 he made his test debut for New Zealand in the 2014 Four Nations tournament.

In 2015, Jason Taumalolo was selected to play in the second-row for the NRL All Stars by coach Wayne Bennett. The NRL All Stars went on to win the match.

References

  1. ↑ http://stevemascord.com/2015/02/03/the-joy-of-six-2015-nrl-nines/
  2. ↑ Jason Taumalolo rugbyleagueproject.org
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2009/08/10/69995_sportsjnr.html
  5. ↑ http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-08-28/coywboys-lose-sims-for-season/2859082
  6. ↑ http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2011/08/23/259661_sport.html
  7. ↑ http://www.cowboys.com.au/default.aspx?s=article-display&id=43560&title=taumalolo-takes-out-rlpa-nyc-player-award
  8. ↑ Mal Meninga gets Origin boost as Cowboys young gun Jason Taumalolo chooses Maroons over New Zealand, by Peter Badel and Chris Garry, The Courier-Mail, dated 27 March 2012.
  9. ↑ Read, Brent (17 February 2012). "Outstanding teenager Jason Taumalolo rejects offer from Parramatta". The Australian.
  10. ↑ http://www.nrl.com/telstrapremiership/playerstats/playerprofile/tabid/10898/clubid/8/playerid/858/seasonid/42/default.aspx
  11. ↑ Nine NYC-winning Warriors named in Jnr Kiwis NRL.com, 6 October 2010
  12. ↑ "League: Second half Junior Kiwis blitz squares Aussie series". The New Zealand Herald. NZPA. 1 November 2010. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
  13. ↑ Junior Kiwis dominated by NYC Grand Finalists rleague.com, 5 October 2011
  14. ↑ Read, Brent (7 April 2012). "NZ sends Tony Kemp to convince Jason Taumalolo to play for country of birth". The Australian.
  15. ↑ Junior Kiwis squad announced rleague.com, 2 October 2012

External links