Name Kalifa Loa Career start 2010 Weight 96 kg | Height 1.80 m Role Rugby Player | |
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Kalifa faifai loa highlights
Kalifa Faifai Loa (born 29 January 1990) is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who currently plays for the St. George Illawarra Dragons in the National Rugby League. A New Zealand and Samoa national representative winger, he previously played for the North Queensland Cowboys and Gold Coast Titans.
Contents
- Kalifa faifai loa highlights
- Kalifa faifai loa insane put down
- Background
- St George Illawarra Dragons
- North Queensland Cowboys
- Gold Coast Titans
- Return to the St George Illawarra Dragons
- References
Kalifa faifai loa insane put down
Background
Born in Wellington, New Zealand, Faifai Loa is of Samoan and Māori descent and played his junior football for the Marist Saints in the Auckland Rugby League competition, before being signed by the Newcastle Knights. He played for the Knights' Toyota Cup team in 2008, scoring 7 tries in 10 games. The Knights sacked Faifai Loa at the end of the season after multiple disciplinary breaches. Faifai Loa said about the incident, "During my time at the Knights, some stuff happened, as it does when you're young, and I got kicked out of some homestays and that sort of thing, I also got done for drink-driving and obviously the Knights decided not to re-sign me. I remember being really homesick and I just drank and stuff like that."
St. George Illawarra Dragons
Faifai Loa returned to New Zealand before signing a contract with the St. George Illawarra Dragons starting in 2009. As a 20-year-old, Faifai Loa scored 12 tries and broke near 100 tackles throughout the 2009 Toyota Cup season. In 2010 he averaged over 200 metres a game and scored 11 tries in 13 appearances. Altogether, he scored 29 tries in 45 games and being named in the 2010 National Youth Competition Team of the Year. In Round 11 of the 2010 NRL season he made his NRL debut for the Dragons against the Canberra Raiders. In his second NRL game, Faifai Loa scored 2 tries. At the end of 2010, it appeared that salary cap demands would force him out of the Dragons. Faifai Loa is cousins with fellow New Zealand international Jeremy Smith. Faifai Loa lived with Smith when they were playing for the St. George Illawarra Dragons.
In July 2010, Faifai Loa signed a 2-year contract with the North Queensland Cowboys starting in 2011.In 2017 He heads for England to join up with the Widnes Vikings after being recommended by the legend Andy Cunningham.
North Queensland Cowboys
In Round 3 of the 2011 NRL season, Faifai Loa made his debut for the North Queensland Cowboys against the Melbourne Storm.
After the 2011 season, Faifai Loa was selected to make his international debut for New Zealand in the test match against Australia at Ausgrid Stadium. He was then selected in the New Zealand squad for the 2011 Four Nations tournament, scoring his first international try in the tournament's opening match against Australia.
In December 2011, Faifai Loa re-signed with the Cowboys for 2 years.
On April 20, 2013 he played for Samoa in the Pacific Rugby League International against Tonga.
Gold Coast Titans
Faifai Loa played nine games for the Titans in 2014, scoring 4 tries.
In 2015, Faifai Loa represented the Queensland Residents. He went on to play 7 NRL games for the Titans in the same year, scoring 5 tries.
Return to the St. George Illawarra Dragons
On 12 October 2015, Faifai Loa signed a 2-year contract with the St. George Illawarra Dragons starting in 2016, returning to his first team.. Faifai Loa went on to play for St George's feeder club side Illawarra in The Intrust Super Premiership NSW. Faifai Loa was a member of The Illawarra side which defeated Mounties 21-20 in The 2016 Intrust Super Premiership NSW grand final.