David Faiumu (born 30 April 1983) is a former 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 played in the 2000s and 2010s. He is currently an assistant coach for the

North Queensland Cowboys Women The North Queensland Cowboys Women is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest city in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier women's rugby league competition, the NRL Women's Premiers ...

in the

NRL Women's Premiership The NRL Women's Premiership (NRLW) also known as the Telstra NRL Women's Premiership due to sponsorship is a rugby league competition in Australasia for female players. The league is run by the National Rugby League (NRL) and is contested by ...

(NRLW) and the

New Zealand women's national rugby league team The New Zealand women's national rugby league team, also known as the Kiwi Ferns or New Zealand Kiwi Ferns, represents New Zealand in women's rugby league. They are administered by the New Zealand Rugby League. New Zealand won the Women's Ru ...

. A New Zealand and Samoan international representative, he played for the

North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest city in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). Sinc ...

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) and

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

Born in

Wellington, New Zealand Wellington is Capital of New Zealand, 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 List of cities in New Zealand, third-largest city ...

, Faiumu is of Samoan descent and played his junior rugby league for the Randwick Kingfishers and

Wainuiomata Lions The Wainuiomata Lions are a New Zealand rugby league club based in Wainuiomata, Wellington. They compete in the Wellington Rugby League competition. In the early 1990s, prior to the creation Lion Red Cup national league competition based on pr ...

Playing career

In 2000, Faiumu played for Wainuiomata as a 17-year-old in the inaugural season of the

Bartercard Cup The Bartercard Cup (successor of the Lion Red Cup) was the top level rugby league club competition in New Zealand from 2000 until 2007. For the entire life of the tournament it was sponsored by Bartercard. The cup was administered by the New Ze ...

before being signed by 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 ...

. He spent two seasons playing for the Raiders'

Jersey Flegg Cup The Jersey Flegg Cup is a junior rugby league competition played in New South Wales, Australia, contested among teams made up of players aged 21 or under. The competition is administered by the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL), and is named ...

side and represented the Junior Kiwis in 2001. In 2003, Faiumu left Canberra, joining the

Central Comets The Central Queensland Capras are a semi-professional rugby league football club primarily based in Rockhampton, Queensland and representing Central Queensland. They play in the Hostplus Cup in Queensland, which is a second-tier competition in ...

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 ...

. After one season at the club, he was signed by the

North Queensland Cowboys

In Round 11 of the

2004 NRL season The 2004 NRL season (also known as the 2004 Telstra Premiership due to sponsorship from Telstra) was the 97th season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the seventh run by the National Rugby League. Fifteen clubs competed dur ...

, Faiumu made his NRL debut, coming off the bench in a 22–18 loss to the

Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Greater Western Sydney suburb of Penrith, New South Wales, Penrith that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL). The team is based west of the cen ...

. In 2005, he became a regular in the Cowboys' 17, playing 21 games, which included coming off the bench in the club's first ever

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

, which they lost to the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers is an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West of Sydney and South Western Sydney. The Tigers have competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since being formed at the end of the 1999 N ...

. In October 2005, he was selected to play for the

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 ...

in the Tri-Nations, coming off the bench in their 24–0 final victory over

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Huddersfield Giants

On 7 June 2008, after four-and-a-half seasons with the Cowboys, Faiumu was granted an early release from his contract to join the

. In 2009, he started at lock in the

Challenge Cup The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...

final, which Huddersfield lost 25–16 to the

Warrington Wolves Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England. They play home games at the Halliwell Jones Stadium and compete in Super League, the top tier of British rugby league system, British rugby league. Warringto ...

. On 16 October 2010, Faiumu represented

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 ...

in their 50–6 loss to New Zealand. In 2011 and 2012, Faiumu represented the

Exiles Exile or banishment is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons ...

against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. At the end of the 2014 season, following seven years at the club, Faiumu announced his retirement and took up a position as the Giants' Developmental Officer.

Coaching career

In October 2017, Faiumu returned to

Rockhampton, Queensland Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. In the , the population of Rockhampton was 79,293. A common nickname for Rockhampton is "Rocky", and the demonym of Rockhampton is Rockhamptonite. The Scottish- ...

, taking up a role as assistant coach for the

Central Queensland Capras The Central Queensland Capras are a semi-professional rugby league football club primarily based in Rockhampton, Queensland and representing Central Queensland. They play in the Hostplus Cup in Queensland, which is a second-tier competition in ...

. In 2019, Faiumu replaced Kim Williams as head coach of the Capras, a position he held until January 2021. In 2022, he became assistant coach of the

Kiwi Ferns The New Zealand women's national rugby league team, also known as the Kiwi Ferns or New Zealand Kiwi Ferns, represents New Zealand in women's rugby league. They are administered by the New Zealand Rugby League. New Zealand won the Women's Ru ...

under head coach Ricky Henry. On 18 April 2024, Faiumu returned to the Cowboys as an assistant coach to their

women's A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional uteruses ...

side.

Club statistics

Representative statistics

References

External links

Huddersfield Giants profileNorth Queensland Cowboys profileNRL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Faiumu, David 1983 births Living people Exiles rugby league team players Huddersfield Giants players New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent New Zealand national rugby league team players North Queensland Cowboys players Central Queensland Capras players Rugby league hookers Rugby league players from Wellington City Samoa national rugby league team players Samoan rugby league players Wainuiomata Lions players Wellington rugby league team players Northern Pride RLFC players