Geoff Daniela (born 28 February 1987) is a

Cook Islands The Cook Islands is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands whose total land area is approximately . The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers of ocean. Avarua is its ...

international

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 a and er for the

St Mary's Saints The St Marys Saints are an Australian rugby league club who were formed in 1908.St Marys''/ref> They were the founding Member of the Penrith District Rugby League. They have previously competed in the NSWRL Jim Beam Cup, winning three titles ...

in the

Ron Massey 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 ...

competition. He has previously played as a professional for 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 ...

and 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 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 ...

Early life

Daniela was born in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, New Zealand. He is of

Niue Niue is a self-governing island country in free association with New Zealand. It is situated in the South Pacific Ocean and is part of Polynesia, and predominantly inhabited by Polynesians. One of the world's largest coral islands, Niue is c ...

an and

descent. He attended school at Hebersham Primary School, Plumpton High School, and St Dominic's College in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Australia. He played junior rugby league with the Western City Tigers (Mt Druitt),

Blacktown Workers The Blacktown Workers Rugby League Football Club, formerly known as Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles, are an Australian rugby league football club based in Blacktown, New South Wales formed in 1962. From 2017 until 2024, they had a side in the NSW C ...

and

. He represented

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

at under-17s and under-19s level.

Playing career

Daniela made his NRL debut with Penrith in round 11, 2007, against the

CUA Stadium Penrith Stadium, currently known as BlueBet Stadium for sponsorship reasons, 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 Panthe ...

. In his three seasons with Penrith he scored 13 tries from just 20 appearances. Joining the Wests Tigers from 2010, Daniela made 13 appearances in the first season at his new club, either playing at centre or starting from the bench. He 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 ...

in a game against 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 ...

, and played in one semi-final. In 2011, a torn pectoral muscle suffered in round 5 saw him take no further part in the season. Returning to Penrith in 2012, Daniela played his first game in the 30-0 loss to previous club

. He made 8 appearances in the centres for the season, for only 2 wins. In 2013, Daniela played at centre for the first two weeks of the season, but they were to be his only games in first grade for the year. On 28 August 2017, Daniela was named in the

team of the year. Daniela captained St Mary's in their 2019

grand final defeat by the

Wentworthville Magpies The Wentworthville Magpies, colloquially known as ''Wenty'', are an Australian rugby league team based in the suburb of Wentworthville in Greater Western Sydney, Sydney's Western Suburbs. Founded in 1963 (or 1937), the club has competed in vari ...

Leichhardt Oval Leichhardt Oval is a rugby league and soccer stadium in Lilyfield, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently one of three home grounds for the Wests Tigers National Rugby League (NRL) team, along with Campbelltown Stadium and Western Syd ...

Representative career

Daniela was named in the

' squad for the

2009 Pacific Cup The 2009 Pacific Cup, known as the 2009 SP Brewery Pacific Cup due to sponsorship, was a rugby league competition held in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. The competing teams were the , , , , . Tonga, Fiji and PNG had their places in the draw c ...

, but did not feature in the tournament. He scored a try for the Cook Islands in their match against

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

on 7 October 2012. Daniela was named in

's train-on squad for their match against the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

on 4 October 2014, but did not play in the game. He scored two tries for the Cook Islands in their 2017 Pacific Test against

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

on 6 May 2017.

References

External links

Hardy schools his charges for final examination
{{DEFAULTSORT:Daniela, Geoff 1987 births Living people 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen Balmain Ryde-Eastwood Tigers players Blacktown Workers players Cook Islands national rugby league team players Illawarra Cutters players New Zealand emigrants to Australia New Zealand people of Niuean descent New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand sportspeople of Cook Island descent Penrith Panthers players People educated at St Dominic's College, Penrith Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Auckland Rugby league wingers Wests Tigers players Windsor Wolves players