Penani Manumalealii

Penani Manumalealii
Manumalealii playing for the Sharks in 2013.
Personal information
Born 14 June 1992
Apia, Samoa
Height 170 cm (5 ft 7 in)
Weight 80 kg (12 st 8 lb)
Playing information
Position Halfback, Five-eighth
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2014 Cronulla-Sutherland 2 0 0 0 0
2015– Wests Tigers 0 0 0 0 0
Total 2 0 0 0 0
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2013–14 Samoa 4 4 0 0 16
As of 3 May 2014
Source: RLP

Penani Manumalealii (born 14 June 1992) is a Samoan professional rugby league footballer who currently plays for the Wests Tigers of the National Rugby League. He primarily plays halfback and five-eighth.

Early years

Born in Apia, Samoa, Manumalealii was raised in New Zealand and attended De La Salle College while playing his junior football for De La Salle and the Hornby Panthers.

Playing career

As a 16-year old, Manumalealii moved to Sydney, Australia to play for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks.[1] He played for the Sharks' NYC team from 2010 to 2012[2][3] before moving on to the Sharks' New South Wales Cup team in 2013.[4]

In Round 2 of the 2014 NRL season, Manumalealii made his NRL debut for the Sharks against the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks.[5]

On 20 March 2014, Manumalealii signed a contract with the Wests Tigers starting effective immediately for the rest of the season.[6]

Representative career

In 2012, Manumalealii played for the Junior Kiwis.[7][8]

In 2013, Manumalealii was named in the Samoa squad for the World Cup.[9] He scored a try in their opening match against New Zealand.

In May 2014, Penani played for Samoa in the 2014 Pacific Rugby League International. He scored three tries in Samoa's 32-16 victory. He dedicated those tries to his mother who had died months earlier. The game also showed respect to his mother by having a moment of silence before the national anthems.

On 8 September 2014, Manumalealii was selected for the Samoa Four Nations train-on squad.[10] On 7 October 2014, Manumalealii was selected in the Samoa national rugby league team final 24 man squad for the 2014 Four Nations series.[11][12]

References

  1. ↑ Penani Manumalealii sharks.com.au
  2. ↑ http://rleague.com/players/Penani-Manumalealii_3069/Stats/
  3. ↑ Young Sharks stun Souths sharks.com.au, 18 August 2012
  4. ↑ "VB NSW CUP TEAM LISTS - FINALS WEEK ONE" 10 September 2013
  5. ↑ http://www.sharks.com.au/news/2014/03/17/late_mail_sharks_v_bulldogs.html
  6. ↑ http://www.weststigers.com.au/news/2015/03/20/wests_tigers_sign_ma.html
  7. ↑ Junior Kiwis squad announced rleague.com, 2 October 2012
  8. ↑ Junior Kiwis named for curtainraiser The Press, 10 October 2012
  9. ↑ 24-man squads for all RLWC2013 nations announced rlwc2013.com, 9 October 2013
  10. ↑ http://www.zerotackle.com/nrl/samao-train-on-squad-announced-14837/
  11. ↑ http://www.nrl.com/toa-samoa-name-four-nations-squad/tabid/10874/newsid/82434/default.aspx
  12. ↑ http://www.zerotackle.com/nrl/toa-samoa-name-four-nations-squad-15250/

External links