David Tangata-Toa (born 15 July 1981) is an Australian 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 and current assistant coach for the

New Zealand Warriors The Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as the Aucklan ...

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). Primarily a , he played for

Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers (often abbreviated to Hull KR) are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Craven Park, Hull, Craven Park and compete in Super League, the top tier of B ...

and Celtic Crusaders 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 on the

Gold Coast, Queensland The Gold Coast, also known by its initials, GC, is a coastal city and region in the state of Queensland, Australia, located approximately south-southeast of the centre of the list of Australian capital cities, state capital, Brisbane. It is ...

, Tangata-Toa played junior rugby league for the

Burleigh Bears The Burleigh Bears are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Gold Coast, Australia. They compete in Queensland's top rugby league competition, the Queensland Cup. Since their admission to the competition in 1997, the ...

and attended

Palm Beach Currumbin State High School Palm Beach Currumbin State High School is an independent public, co-educational, secondary school, located in the Gold Coast suburb of Palm Beach, in Queensland, Australia. It is administered by the Department of Education, with an enrolment ...

Playing career

A lower grader with the

St George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons are an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since 1999 after a j ...

and

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

, Tangata-Toa moved to

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 ...

in 2005, joining

in the

National League One National One, up until 2023 known as National League 1 and previously known before September 2009 as National Division Two), is the third of three national leagues in the domestic rugby union competition of England. It was known as Courage Lea ...

. In 2006, he played in their National League One Grand Final winning side, helping them earn promotion to the

. In 2007, he played 17 Super League games for the club, scoring three tries. In 2008, Tangata-Toa joined the Celtic Crusaders, scoring a try in their

Grand Final loss to the

Salford City Reds The Salford Red Devils are a professional rugby league club in Salford, England. They play home games at Salford Community Stadium in Barton upon Irwell and compete in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby league. Salford Red Devil ...

. In 2009, he played 19 Super League games for the Crusaders, scoring four tries.

Coaching career

In 2011, Tangata-Toa became

captain-coach A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make change ...

of the

Windsor Wolves The Windsor Wolves are a rugby league team based in the town of Windsor, New South Wales. The club fields both junior and senior teams in the Penrith District Rugby League competitions. The club has fielded teams in semi-professional, New Sout ...

in the

Bundaberg Red Cup The Ron Massey Cup (formerly known as the Bundaberg Red Cup and Jim Beam Cup) is a semi-professional development level rugby league competition in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, run jointly by the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) and the ...

. In 2012, he moved up to Windsor's

NSW Cup The NSW Cup, currently known as the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. The competition has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserve ...

side as an assistant coach. In 2013, Tangata-Toa joined 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 ...

as an assistant coach to their under-20 side. In Round 7, Tangata-Toa replaced

Garth Brennan Garth Brennan (born 18 February 1972) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who was the head coach of the Gold Coast Titans in the NRL. He previously held coaching positions at the Newcastle Knights and the Penrith Panthers. ...

, who moved up to the club's NSW Cup side, as the head coach. Brennan later returned to the role before the finals series began. From 2014 to 2016, he worked as an assistant coach to the Panthers' NSW Cup side. In 2016, he became the assistant coach of the Tongan national team under head coach

Kristian Woolf Kristian Woolf (born 6 July 1975) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who is the head coach of the Dolphins (NRL), Dolphins in the National Rugby League (NRL). At international level, he has coached Tonga national rugby ...

. In 2017, he once again took charge of Penrith's under-20 side, leading them to the finals. In 2018, Tangata-Toa became head coach of the

Townsville Blackhawks The Townsville & Districts Blackhawks are an Australian semi-professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, Queensland. They compete in Queensland's top rugby league competition, the Queensland Cup. The club was admitted to the Que ...

under-20 side, where he led the side to the minor premiership and Grand Final. In 2019, he joined 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 ...

as an assistant coach. On 21 September, Tangata-Toa joined the

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilitated by ...

as a transition coach after two years with the Cowboys.

Personal life

Tangata-Toa's older brother,

Andrew Andrew is the English form of the given name, common in many countries. The word is derived from the , ''Andreas'', itself related to ''aner/andros'', "man" (as opposed to "woman"), thus meaning "manly" and, as consequence, "brave", "strong", "c ...

, is a former professional rugby league player.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tangata-Toa, David 1981 births Living people Australian sportspeople of Tongan descent Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league players Crusaders Rugby League players Hull Kingston Rovers players Rugby league players from the Gold Coast, Queensland Rugby league props Rugby league second-rows Windsor Wolves players People educated at Palm Beach Currumbin State High School 21st-century Australian sportsmen