Etuate Uaisele (born 12 December 1984) is a Tongan

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who last played for the

Dewsbury Rams The Dewsbury Rams are a professional English rugby league club based in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire that compete in the Championship. They play their home games at the Tetley's Stadium, on Owl Lane. The Rams' main fanbase comes from their homet ...

in the

Kingstone Press Championship The Championship, known as the Betfred Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a professional rugby league competition. It is the second-tier competition organised by the Rugby Football League, the governing body for the sport in England, ...

. He plays as a winger or

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricit ...

Biography

Early life

Etu, short for Etuate was born in

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

an island nation in the South Pacific. He later migrated to New Zealand in 1996 where he first started his rugby career. Growing up in South Auckland, Uaisele attended Ferguson Intermediate in Otara, he later joined

Otahuhu College Otahuhu College is a secondary school in Auckland, New Zealand for students years 9 to 13. Location It is located in the suburb of Otahuhu and is a co-educational school. The main campus entrance is on Mangere Road, the Memorial Field sports ...

where he became one of the most talented students of the school. Uaisele played for the

Otahuhu Leopards The Otahuhu Leopards are a rugby league club based in Otahuhu, Auckland. Founded in 1911, the club has produced 49 New Zealand national rugby league team players. The club competes in the Fox Memorial competition run by Auckland Rugby League. ...

and represented Auckland and Counties Manukau in the regional under 16, under 17 and under 18 tournament.

Playing career

In 2006, Uaisele was one of the players that won the 2006 Premier League Competition for Parramatta. For the next two years, Uaisele played well in the Premier League division. However, the

Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and thei ...

first grade side included international and State of Origin

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

players such as

Jarryd Hayne Jarryd Lee Hayne (born 15 February 1988) is a former professional rugby league footballer who also briefly played American football and rugby union sevens. Hayne began his career in 2006 as a er for the Parramatta Eels, winning the NRL's ...

Krisnan Inu Krisnan Nevada Inu (born 17 March 1987) is a professional rugby league footballer who plays as a or er for the Leigh Centurions in the RFL Championship. He has played for both New Zealand and Samoa at international level. On 24 February 20 ...

and

Eric Grothe, Jr. Eric Raymond Grothe (born 15 March 1980) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. A New South Wales rugby league team, New South Wales State of Origin series, State of Origin and Au ...

at his preferred positions of wing and centre, so he was not called up until Grothe was injured in early in 2009. Uaisele made his first grade NRL début for the

on 24 April 2009, scoring a try despite a 40-8 loss. At the end of the

2011 NRL season The 2011 NRL season was the 104th season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the fourteenth and last run by the National Rugby League's partnership committee of the Australian Rugby League and News Ltd. The NRL ...

, he moved to the

Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith that competes in the NRL. The team is based west of the centre of Sydney, at the foot of the Blue Mountains. Penri ...

on a one-year contract. Uaisele scored his first hat trick for the

against his former club, the

, during their match in round 4, 2012. Uaisele was not re-signed by Penrith for the

2013 NRL season The 2013 NRL season was the 106th season of professional rugby league club competition in Australia. The National Rugby League's main competition, named the 2013 Telstra Premiership after major sponsors Telstra Corporation, was contested by sixtee ...

. Uaisele returned to the second tier competition, the

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 reserv ...

, in 2013, with the

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

. Uaisele joined the

Featherstone Rovers Featherstone Rovers are a professional rugby league club in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England, who play in the Championship. Featherstone is a former coal mining town with a population of around 16,000 and Rovers are one of the last "small ...

for the 2014 season in the English Championship. 2015 - 2015 Season Uaisele signed for Bradford on a two-year Deal. He featured in the pre-season friendly against

Castleford Tigers The Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England, that compete in the Super League, the top-level professional rugby league club competition in the Northern Hemisphere. The club have competed ...

. He featured in round 1 (

Leigh Centurions The Leigh Leopards are a professional rugby league club based in Leigh, Greater Manchester, England, who compete in the Betfred Super League. The club was founded in 1878, and is one of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern ...

) to round 3 (

). Uaisele featured in round 8 (

) to Round 17 (

) then in round 20 ( Hunslet Hawks) to round 21 (

Sheffield Eagles The Sheffield Eagles are a professional rugby league club that play in the Betfred Championship. The club play their home games at the Olympic Legacy Park (OLP) on the former site of Don Valley Stadium, their former ground. The original club w ...

). He also featured in the

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves a ...

in round 4 (

Workington Town Workington Town R.L.F.C. is a semi-professional rugby league club playing in Workington in west Cumbria. Their stadium is Derwent Park, which they share with Workington Comets, a speedway team. They became Rugby League Champions in 1951 a ...

) and Round 5 (

Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England, that competes in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby league. The club has won five league championships, and one Challenge ...

). He scored against

(1 try),

London Broncos The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club in London, England. The club competes in the RFL Championship. It was a member of Super League from its inaugural season in 1996 until the end of the 2014 season, when they were relegat ...

(2 tries),

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated i ...

(3 tries),

(1 try) and Hunslet Hawks (1 try). Midway through 2015 he signed on loan for the

until the end of the season. 2016 - 2016 Season Uaisele did not feature in any pre-season friendlies. Uaisele featured in round 8 (

Halifax Halifax commonly refers to: *Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada * Halifax, West Yorkshire, England *Halifax (bank), a British bank Halifax may also refer to: Places Australia *Halifax, Queensland, a coastal town in the Shire of Hinchinbrook *Halifax ...

). Uaisele played in the

in the 4th Round (

). He scored against

(1 try). It was announced that Uaisele was released from Bradford towards the end of the season.

Statistics

Statistics do not include pre-season friendlies.

Representative

From 2006 to 2013, Uaisele appeared on several occasions for

. He first played for

in the

Federation Shield The inaugural Federation Shield rugby league competition was held in 2006. This competition is organised by the Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league in England, and until 1995 fo ...

competition,. The next year, Uaisele was again capped for the national team. In August 2008, Uaisele was named in the Tonga training squad for the

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup since its inauguration in 1954, and the first since the 2000 tournament. The tournament was held in Australia from 26 October, culminating in the final b ...

, and in October 2008 he was named in the final 24-man

squad. He played all three games for Tonga in the World Cup, scoring three tries. On 20 April 2013, Uaisele played for Tonga in the

Pacific Rugby League International The Pacific Rugby League International is a rugby league test match that has been played between two Pacific Island nations during the National Rugby League's annual representative weekend since 2013. The fixture was held at Penrith Stadium for t ...

against fierce rivals Samoa at

Penrith Stadium Penrith Stadium (known commercially as BlueBet Stadium) is a rugby league and association football stadium located in Penrith, New South Wales, Australia. The 22,500 capacity venue is the home ground for the Penrith Panthers who play in the Na ...

. Uaisele scored 1 try in the Tongans 36-4 demolishing of the Samoan team.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Uaisele, Etu 1984 births Living people Bradford Bulls players Dewsbury Rams players Featherstone Rovers players Otahuhu Leopards players Parramatta Eels players Penrith Panthers players People educated at Otahuhu College People from Tongatapu Rugby league wingers Sheffield Eagles players Tonga national rugby league team players Tongan emigrants to New Zealand Tongan rugby league players Windsor Wolves players Wyong Roos players Tongan expatriate sportspeople in England Tongan expatriate sportspeople in Australia New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand expatriate rugby league players Tongan expatriate rugby league players New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Australia New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England