Jacob Saifiti (born 1 May 1996) is a

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

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 as a forward for the

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

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 ...

Background

Saifiti was born in

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 ...

, Australia. He is of Fijian and Samoan descent and moved to the Central Coast at a young age. He is the identical twin brother of Knights teammate Daniel Saifiti. Saifiti played his junior rugby league for the Terrigal Sharks and The Entrance Tigers, before joining the

in 2015.

Playing career

2015

In 2015, Saifiti played for the

' NYC team. On 2 May, he played for

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 ...

, alongside his twin brother Daniel. On 27 September, he played in Newcastle's 2015 New South Wales Cup Grand Final win over the

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

. During the year, he re-signed with the Newcastle club on a two-year contract.

2016

In round 1 of the

2016 NRL season The 2016 NRL season was the 109th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 19th 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, ...

, Saifiti made his

debut for the

against the

Gold Coast Titans The Gold Coast Titans are a professional rugby league football club, based on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership, Australia's elite rugby league competition. Since 2008, the ...

, playing alongside his brother Daniel, becoming the first twins in Australian rugby league's 108-year history to debut together. On 12 May, he and his brother extended their contracts with the Knights from the end of 2017 until the end of 2018. He made a total of 18 appearances for Newcastle in his debut season as the club finished last on the table.

2017

Saifiti played 21 games for the Newcastle club in the 2017 season, before having his contract extended until the end of 2020. Newcastle would finish bottom of the table for a third straight season.

2018

Saifiti was limited to only eight games for Newcastle in 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 ...

as the club finished 11th on the table.

2019

Saifiti played 7 games for Newcastle in the

2019 NRL season The 2019 NRL season was the 112th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 22nd season run by the National Rugby League. The Sydney Roosters became the first team to win back-to-back Premierships since the Brisbane Broncos in 1992 ...

as the club finished 11th on the table.

2020

Saifiti played 21 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 ...

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

2021

He played 23 matches for Newcastle in 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 ...

including the club's elimination finals 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 ...

2022

Saifiti was selected as a reserve player for New South Wales in the

2022 State of Origin series The 2022 State of Origin series was the 41st State of Origin series, annual best-of-three series between the Queensland rugby league team, Queensland and New South Wales rugby league team, New South Wales rugby league teams. Before this series, Q ...

. He made his Origin debut against Queensland after the withdrawal of Jordan McLean in Game 3 of the series at Suncorp Stadium. Saifiti scored a first half try as New South Wales eventually lost the match 22-12. Saifiti played 23 games for Newcastle in 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 ...

as the club missed the finals finishing 14th on the table.

2023

In round 2 of 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 ...

, Saifiti was sent off for a dangerous high tackle on Wests Tigers player Jake Simpkin. Newcastle would go on to win the match 14-12. Saifiti was later suspended for five matches over the incident. On 3 July, Saifiti was a surprise selection for New South Wales ahead of their match in game 3 of the

2023 State of Origin series The 2023 State of Origin series was the 42nd annual best-of-three series between the Queensland and New South Wales rugby league teams. Before this series, Queensland had won 23 times, NSW 16 times, with two series drawn. Venues Game I was hel ...

. In round 27, Saifiti captained Newcastle for the first time and scored the opening try in a 32-12 win over the St. George Illawarra Dragons. Saifiti played a total of 21 games for Newcastle in the

as the club finished 5th on the table. Saifiti played in both finals games as Newcastle were eliminated in the second week of the finals by 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 ...

2024

Saifiti played 16 games for Newcastle in the

2024 NRL season The 2024 NRL season was the 117th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 27th season run by the National Rugby League (NRL). The season consisted of 27 competition rounds, followed by a finals series contested by the top eight ...

as the club finished 8th and qualified for the finals.

Statistics

Controversy

On 2 December 2018, Saifiti was found unconscious and with a broken leg after a fight with Dane Cordner, the brother of NSW captain and

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 ...

player Boyd Cordner. Saifiti was later cleared of any wrongdoing but was fined $50,000 by Newcastle over the incident.

References

External links

Newcastle Knights profile2017 RLWC profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saifiti, Jacob 1996 births Living people Australian people of Fijian descent Australian sportspeople of Samoan descent Australian rugby league players Fiji national rugby league team players Identical twin males Newcastle Knights players Newcastle Knights captains New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players Rugby league players from Newcastle, New South Wales Rugby league props Rugby league second-rows 21st-century Australian sportsmen