Daniel Levi (born 5 December 1995) is a professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who plays as a for the

Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugb ...

in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

(NRL). He has played for

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, New Zealand Māori and

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

at international level. He previously played for the

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league team based in Newcastle, New South Wales that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, the Knights joined the top-tier competition in New ...

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...

and the

Manly Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Manly club debuted in the 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League seaso ...

in the NRL, and the

Huddersfield Giants The Huddersfield Giants are an English professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. Huddersfield play their home games at the John Smiths Stadium and compete in Super League, the top tier of British rugby league sy ...

in the

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

Background

Levi was born in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

, New Zealand, and is of

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

and Samoan descent. He played his junior rugby league for the Randwick Kingfishers. He then moved to Australia and played for the Glenmore Park Brumbies, before being signed by the

Playing career

Early career

Midway through the 2013 season, Levi signed with the Newcastle Knights on a -year contract effective immediately. From 2013 to 2015, he played for the Knights' NYC team, captaining the side in 2014 as an 18-year-old and also in 2015. On 2 September 2014, he was named on the interchange bench in the 2014 NYC Team of the Year. On 24 September 2014, he extended his contract with the Knights to the end of 2017. On 18 October 2014, he played for the

Junior Kiwis The Junior Kiwis side represents New Zealand in the sport of rugby league. They are commonly known as the Junior Kiwis, after the native bird of that name. Since 2010, they are an under-20s side, with players selected from the NRL, Intrust Sup ...

against the

Junior Kangaroos The Junior Kangaroos side represents Australia in the sport of rugby league. They are commonly known as the Junior Kangaroos, after the native marsupial of that name. Since 2019, they are an under-23 side, with players selected from the NRL. Th ...

2015

Levi played for the Knights in the pre-season Auckland Nines. On 2 May, he again played for the Junior Kiwis, coming off the interchange bench in the Kiwis' 22-20 loss to the Junior Kangaroos. Dannylevi

In Round 15 of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

, he made his first-grade debut for the Knights against the

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the Sutherland Shire of Southern Sydney, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. Cronulla compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugb ...

, playing off the interchange bench in the Knights' 30-28 loss at

Hunter Stadium Newcastle International Sports Centre, currently known as McDonald Jones Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose sports stadium located in Newcastle, New South Wales, Newcastle, Australia. The ground is home to the Newcastle Knight ...

. In Round 16 against the

, he scored his first NRL career try in the Knights' 44-22 loss at

Suncorp Stadium Brisbane Stadium (Lang Park), currently known as Suncorp Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in the suburb of Milton, Queensland, Milton, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Nicknamed The Cauldron, it is a three-tiered rect ...

. On 27 August, he extended his contract with the Knights to the end of 2018. Levi played at hooker in the Knights' New South Wales Cup Grand Final win over the

Wyong Roos The Wyong Rugby League Football Club are an Australian rugby league club based on the Central Coast (New South Wales), Central Coast of New South Wales. The club competed in the New South Wales Cup from 2013 to 2018 and still competes in the Cen ...

, and the following week in the

NRL State Championship The NRL State Championship is a rugby league match contested by the premiers of the two elite second-tier competitions in Australia, the New South Wales Cup and the Queensland Cup. The match has been played as a curtain-raiser to the NRL Grand ...

Final, a 12-26 loss against the

Ipswich Jets The Ipswich Jets are an Australian rugby league football club based in Ipswich, Queensland. Their name comes from nearby RAAF Base Amberley, one of the largest airbases in Australia. The Jets compete in the Queensland Cup competition. Original ...

. He finished off his debut year in the NRL having played in 7 matches and scoring 2 tries for the Knights as the club finished last. He was named on the interchange bench in the 2015 NYC Team of the Year for a second year in a row.

2016

In February, Levi played for the Knights in the

2016 NRL Auckland Nines The 2016 NRL Auckland Nines (known as the Downer NRL Auckland Nines due to sponsorship) was the third NRL Auckland Nines competition. It was held on 6–7 February 2016 at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand. As with previous tournaments, it wa ...

. In May, he was named as 19th man for

during the

2016 Anzac Test The 2016 Anzac Test (known as the Downer Anzac Test due to sponsorship) was a rugby league test match played between Australia and New Zealand at Hunter Stadium in Newcastle. It was the 17th Anzac Test played between the two nations since the ...

. He finished the season having played in 18 matches as the club finished last on the table. Out of 18 matches Levi played in, 17 of them ended in defeat. The other match was a 24-24 draw with the

in round 3 of the competition.

2017

In April, Levi extended his Newcastle contract from the end of 2018 until the end of 2020. Levi played a total of 24 games for Newcastle in the

2017 NRL season The 2017 NRL season was the 110th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 20th season run by the National Rugby League. The season started in New Zealand with the annual Auckland Nines, and was followed by the All Stars Match, ...

as the club finished last for a third straight year.

2018

Levi played 17 games for Newcastle in the

2018 NRL season The 2018 NRL season was the 111th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 21st season run by the National Rugby League. The main competition, known as the 2018 Telstra Premiership due to sponsorship from Telstra, featured 16 team ...

as the club improved upon the earlier three years by finishing 11th on the table.

2019

Levi played 17 games in the

2019 NRL season The 2019 NRL season was the 112th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 22nd season run by the National Rugby League. The Sydney Roosters became the first team to win back-to-back Premierships since the Brisbane Broncos in 1992 ...

for Newcastle as the club finished 11th on the table for a second consecutive year.

2020

On 22 January, Levi was released by Newcastle and signed a one-year contract to join the

for the

2020 NRL season The 2020 NRL season was the 113th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 23rd season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 14th consecutive year. ; Notes : : : Pre-season ...

. On 26 February, Levi spoke to the media about his departure from Newcastle and his rocky relationship with the club's former head coaching Nathan Brown saying “It was hard, it was a bit of a rollercoaster. I thought there were things that were unfair, You hear a lot of stories where coaches that just don’t like you, no matter what you do. You could be in his bad books and that’s it. I think I might have been in a situation like that. I'm just happy to be out of it. I never have anything towards the club or the team, some of my best friends are in that team". In round 10 against Parramatta, Levi scored his first try for Manly-Warringah as they won the match 22-18 at

Brookvale Oval Brookvale Oval, currently known as 4 Pines Park for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in the suburb of Brookvale, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The ground is owned by Northern Beaches Council and is primarily used by the M ...

. In September, Levi was informed by Manly-Warringah that his services would not be required for the 2021 season.

2021

On 4 February 2021 it was reported that Levi would join the

Norths Devils The Northern Suburbs Devils, or North Brisbane Devils, or often simply referred to as Norths for short, are a rugby league club representing the northern suburbs of Brisbane, Australia. The team colours are sky blue, navy blue and gold. They pl ...

in the

Queensland Cup The Queensland Cup, currently known as the Hostplus Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level regional rugby league, rugby league football competition in Queensland, Australia. It is run by the Queensland Rugby League, Queensland Rugby ...

for the 2021 season. On 20 April, Levi signed with the

for the remainder of the season, later that week, Levi made his club debut in round 7 against

Parramatta Parramatta (; ) is a suburb (Australia), suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney. Parramatta is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, on the banks of the Parramatta River. It is co ...

where Brisbane lost 46-6 at

TIO Stadium Marrara Oval, currently known as TIO Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in the suburb of Marrara, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. With a seating capacity of 12,215, the ground is the largest stadium in the Nort ...

in Darwin. On 29 September, Levi signed a two-year deal to join English side

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

2022

On 28 May, Levi played for Huddersfield in their 2022 Challenge Cup Final loss to

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

. In October Levi was named in the Samoa squad for the

2021 Rugby League World Cup The 2021 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC2021) was a collection of world cups in the sport of rugby league, held in England from 15 October to 19 November 2022. England won hosting rights for the competition on 27 October 2016. The bid received � ...

2023

On 8 January, Levi signed a two-year deal to join

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

ahead of the

2023 NRL season The 2023 NRL season was the 116th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 26th season run by the National Rugby League. The season consisted of 27 competition rounds, the longest in league history, followed by a finals series ...

. In round 3 of the

, Levi suffered a broken jaw during Canberra's 24-20 victory over Cronulla and was ruled out for an indefinite period. It was reported that trainers attempted to search for Levi's missing teeth during and after the game. Levi was limited to only four matches with Canberra in the

as the club finished 8th on the table and qualified for the finals.

2024

Levi played 23 matches for Canberra in the

2024 NRL season The 2024 NRL season was the 117th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 27th season run by the National Rugby League (NRL). The season consisted of 27 competition rounds, followed by a finals series contested by the top eight ...

as the club finished 9th on the table.

Statistics

References

External links

Newcastle Knights profile2017 RLWC profileSamoa profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Levi, Danny 1995 births Living people 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen Brisbane Broncos players Canberra Raiders players Huddersfield Giants players Junior Kiwis players Manly Warringah Sea Eagles players New Zealand expatriate rugby league players in Australia New Zealand expatriate rugby league players in England New Zealand Māori rugby league players New Zealand Māori rugby league team players New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent Newcastle Knights players Norths Devils players Randwick Kingfishers players Rugby league hookers Rugby league players from Wellington City Samoa national rugby league team players Samoan rugby league players