Enari Tuala (born 19 October 1998) is an Australian 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 er or for 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 ...

in the

NRL 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 ...

. He previously 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 ...

and

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 ...

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 ...

, and has represented the

Prime Minister's XIII Prime Minister's XIII, or sometimes informally referred to as the PM's XIII, a representative rugby league team, comprising Australian players from National Rugby League clubs that did not qualify for the NRL Finals, or whose teams were knocked ...

Background

Tuala was born in

Cairns Cairns (; ) is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people. The city was founded in 1876 and named after William Cairns, Sir W ...

Queensland, Australia Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, ...

, and is of Samoan descent. He played his junior rugby league for the Edmonton Storm, before being signed by the

Playing career

Early career

After being signed by the

, Tuala moved to

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

, where he attended

Kirwan State High School Kirwan State High School is a coeducational state school located in Kirwan, Queensland, Kirwan, Townsville, Queensland, Australia, approximately from the Townsville, Queensland, Townsville central business district, CBD. In 2017, it has 1997 st ...

and played for the Townsville Stingers' Cyril Connell and Mal Meninga Cup sides. In 2014, Tuala represented the Queensland under-16 team. In 2015, Tuala scored a hat trick in the Stingers' Mal Meninga Cup Grand Final victory and was selected for the Queensland under-18 team. Later that year, he scored twice in Kirwan's

ARL Schoolboy Cup The NRL Schoolboy Cup is the premier Education in Australia#Secondary schools, secondary schools rugby league competition in Australia, held annually since 1975. Formerly known under such names as the Amco Shield, Commonwealth Bank Cup, Arrive A ...

final victory over

Patrician Brothers' College, Blacktown Patrician Brothers' College, Blacktown is a Roman Catholic single-sex secondary day school for boys, located in Blacktown, a western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. History The College was founded in 1952 by the Patrician Bro ...

. In 2016, Tuala played for North Queensland's NYC side, scoring 12 tries in 15 games. He was again selected for the Queensland under-18 side but was later ruled out through injury.

2017

In early 2017, Tuala trained during the pre-season with North Queensland's first grade squad. He played in their first NRL trial against the

Sydney Roosters Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...

, scoring a try in the 11-10 win. In May, Tuala played for 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 ...

against 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 ...

, before re-signing with the North Queensland club on a two-year contract until the end of 2019. In round 24 of 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, ...

, he made his

debut for the Cowboys 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 ...

2018

In Round 13 of 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 ...

against

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 ...

, Tuala scored his first NRL try in North Queensland's 26-12 win 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 ...

. On October 6, Tuala made his senior representative debut for the

, coming off the bench and assisting a try in the side's 34–18 win over the

PNG Prime Minister's XIII Papua New Guinea Prime Minister's XIII, or sometimes informally referred to as the PNG PM's XIII, is the name of a representative rugby league team, comprising Papua New Guinean players from the Papua New Guinea National Rugby League, PNG Hunte ...

. A week later, on 13 October, he scored a double in the

40–24 win over the

2019

Tuala played just seven NRL games for North Queensland in 2019. He spent the majority of the season playing for the Northern Pride 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 ...

. On 13 September, it was announced that he would not be re-signed by the North Queensland club.

2020

Tuala joined the

on a one-year contract ahead of the 2020 season. Tuala played 20 games for Newcastle in 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 ...

and scored 11 tries. He played in Newcastle's first finals game since 2013 which was a 46-20 loss against South Sydney in the elimination final.

2021

In round 20 of the

2021 NRL season The 2021 NRL season was the 114th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 24th season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 15th consecutive year. Regular season Ladd ...

, Tuala scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

for Newcastle in a 34-24 victory over Canberra. In round 22, he scored two tries for Newcastle in a 16-14 victory over Cronulla-Sutherland. In week one of the 2021 Finals Series, Tuala scored a

for Newcastle in their 20-28 loss 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 ...

in the elimination final.

2022

In round 21 of the

2022 NRL season The 2022 NRL season was the 115th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 25th season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 16th consecutive year. This became the second longest ...

, Tuala scored two tries for Newcastle in a 14-10 victory over fellow cellar dwellers 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 ...

. On 16 August, it was announced that Tuala had been stood down from the Newcastle club for not meeting team standards. Tuala had played in the club's loss against

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

in round 22 but failed to make the team bus which was heading to the airport the next morning.

2023

Tuala was limited to only six matches for Newcastle in 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 ...

as the club finished 5th on the table.

2024

After playing in 87 matches for the Knights, Tuala parted ways with the club at the end of the season. On November 4, Tuala signed a 2-year deal with the

Canterbury 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 ...

Statistics

NRL

: : *denotes season still competing

References

External links

Newcastle Knights profileNorth Queensland Cowboys profileNRL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tuala, Enari 1998 births Living people Australian rugby league players Australian sportspeople of Samoan descent North Queensland Cowboys players Newcastle Knights players Northern Pride RLFC players Prime Minister's XIII players Junior Kangaroos players Rugby league centres Rugby league wingers Rugby league players from Cairns 21st-century Australian sportsmen