Jack Taualii Afamasaga (born 2 June 1984), also known by the

nickname A nickname, in some circumstances also known as a sobriquet, or informally a "moniker", is an informal substitute for the proper name of a person, place, or thing, used to express affection, playfulness, contempt, or a particular character trait ...

of "Skuks", is a New Zealand former

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

and 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 played at club level for 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 (NRL). The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and ...

, the

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 sea ...

, 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 ...

, the

Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm is a rugby league football club based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia that participates in the National Rugby League (NRL). The club plays its home games at AAMI Park, and wears a purple and navy blu ...

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 ...

, the

Western Suburbs Rosellas The Western Suburbs Rosellas, Western Suburbs, Wests, The Rosellas are a Rugby league club based in the Newcastle, NSW region of Australia. It was a foundation member of the Newcastle Rugby League in 1909 and has been one of the most successf ...

in the

Newcastle Rugby League The Newcastle Rugby League is a local rugby league football competition in Newcastle, Australia. It is one of the oldest rugby league competitions in Australia, founded in 1910. A Newcastle rugby league team, Newcastle representative team was al ...

competition, with stints 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 ...

and France, as a or .

Background

Afamasaga was born in

Lower Hutt Lower Hutt () is a list of cities in New Zealand, city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. Administered by the Hutt City Council, it is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington#Wellington metropolitan area, Wellington metropoli ...

, New Zealand, and is of

Samoan Samoan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Samoan Islands, an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean ** Something of, from, or related to Samoa, a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands ** Something of, from, ...

heritage. Afamasaga is a cousin of

Hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...

and

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

player

Ma'a Nonu Ma'a Allan Nonu (; born 21 May 1982) is a professional rugby union player from New Zealand who currently plays for Toulon in the Top 14. He plays as an inside centre, but can also cover outside centre and wing. He was a key member of the All ...

. He is eligible to represent

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 ...

Childhood and early career

Afamasaga originally began playing

in his youth, playing for the 1st XV team at Waiopehu College in Levin (the same high school attended by former All Black

Carlos Spencer Carlos James Spencer (born 14 October 1975) is a former New Zealand rugby union player and previously the head coach of the and the . He is currently an assistant coach for the New Orleans Gold of Major League Rugby (MLR). During his playing ...

) and working his way up through several representative teams before he was eventually selected by the

Wellington Hurricanes The Hurricanes ( ; ; formerly the Wellington Hurricanes) is a New Zealand professional men's rugby union team based in Wellington that competes in Super Rugby. The Hurricanes were formed to represent the lower North Island, including the East ...

in their schoolboy team. In 2002, at age 18, and after several seasons in the Hurricanes' youth system playing in the centres Afamasaga was spotted by

rugby league scout

Mark Horo Mark Gregory Horo (born 27 March 1963) is a New Zealand rugby league coach and former footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. A New Zealand international representative, he played club football in New Zealand for Te Atatu and in Australia ...

and was signed to the Australian club on a development deal.

Parramatta Eels

He began playing in the junior grades at the Parramatta club during the 2003 season, impressing with his skill, power, and pace. Afamasago made his first grade debut during the

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

season against 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 ...

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 ...

. He then went on to play five games for the club and showed glimpses of the great potential he possessed eventually going on to win the Eric Grothe ''Rookie of the Year'' award. During the next two seasons with the club, Afamasaga played another six games but could not hold down a permanent first-grade position.

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles

Afamasaga was offered a new deal at Parramatta at the completion of the

2006 NRL season The 2006 NRL season was the 99th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the ninth run by the National Rugby League. The lineup of teams remained unchanged from the previous year, with fifteen clubs competing for the 2006 Te ...

but signed for the

instead, deciding to chase a regular first grade spot. He appeared in the 2007 Grand Final, which Manly lost to Melbourne. However, after failing to crack a regular first-grade spot in 2008 (only playing 2 matches) he has now been released by Manly.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks

In the

2009 NRL season The 2009 NRL season was the 102nd season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the twelfth run by the National Rugby League. For the third consecutive year, sixteen teams competed for the 2009 Telstra Premiersh ...

, Afamasaga played ten matches for Cronulla as the club missed the finals.

Melbourne Storm

Afamasaga was signed to a trial deal with the

for the rest of the 2011 season. Signed before the 30 June deadline, Afamasaga was free to play with the Victorian side and their feeder team on the

. He had recently been playing in France for

RC Lescure-Arthes XIII Racing Club Lescure-Arthès XIII are a French Rugby league club based in Lescure-d'Albigeois, Tarn in the Midi-Pyrénées region. The club plays in the French Elite Two Championship. Founded in 1964 as a youth side, their home ground is the Sta ...

, and played in the

for the

Wynnum Manly Seagulls The Wynnum Manly Seagulls are an Australian rugby league football club based at Kougari Oval, in Brisbane's bayside suburb of Manly West, Queensland, Manly West, which neighbours the suburb of Wynnum, Queensland, Wynnum. They competed in the Bri ...

in 2010.

Newcastle Rugby League

After his stint with Storm, Afamasaga moved to

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle, also commonly referred to as Greater Newcastle ( ; ), is a large Metropolitan area, metropolitan area and the second-most-populous such area of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the cities of City of Newcastle, Newcastle and Ci ...

to play with the

for the 2012 season.

Representative career

In 2009 he was named as part of 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 ...

.Poching names strong Samoan squad
''therhinos.co.uk'', 6 October 2009

References

External links

Jack Afamasaga NRL player profileJack Afamasaga official player profileWynnum Manly Seagulls profile"Interview with Jack Afamasaga"
by Ben Horne 27/12/2006, retrieved 12 February 2007
Samoan Bios: Jack Afamasaga
{{DEFAULTSORT:Afamasaga, Jack 1984 births Living people 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks players Samoan expatriate rugby league players in Australia Manly Warringah Sea Eagles players Melbourne Storm players New Zealand expatriate rugby league players in Australia New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand rugby union players Parramatta Eels players Queensland Residents rugby league team players RC Lescure-Arthes XIII players Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Lower Hutt Rugby league second-rows Rugby union players from Lower Hutt Samoa national rugby league team players Samoan rugby league players Western Suburbs Rosellas players Wynnum Manly Seagulls players