Vaai Taumalolo (born 31 May 1993), better known by the nickname Jason, is a 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 or forward 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 ...

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 ...

(NRL). He has played for

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

at international level. Taumalolo played for the NRL All Stars and he was a member of the Cowboys'

2015 NRL Grand Final The 2015 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2015 NRL season and was played on Sunday 4 October at Sydney's ANZ Stadium between the Brisbane Broncos and North Queensland Cowboys. North Queensland won the ma ...

and 2016 World Club Challenge winning sides, and won the

Dally M Medal The Dally M Medal is awarded each year (annually) to the player voted for as the ' Player of the year' over the National Rugby League (NRL) regular season. The awards are named in honour of Australian former rugby league great Herbert Henry "Da ...

in 2016. Taumalolo is notable the only forward in the 21st century to be awarded the Dally M Medal other than Danny Buderus and Cameron Smith. He played as a forward early in his career.

Background

Taumalolo was born in

Auckland, New Zealand 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 ...

to parents Tominika and Vaai Akolo, and is of

n descent. Enrolled in primary school under his given name, Vaai, his teacher was unable to pronounce it correctly, instead deciding to call him "Jason". He grew up in

Māngere Māngere () is a major suburb in South Auckland, New Zealand, located on mainly flat land on the northeastern shore of the Manukau Harbour, to the northwest of Manukau, Manukau City Centre and south of the Auckland CBD, Auckland city centre. ...

and started playing rugby league at the age of 4 for the Papakura Sea Eagles and attended De La Salle College along with older brother Warner. At age 12, he 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 ...

after being scouted and signed to a scholarship by the

while playing for a touring New Zealand under-16 team. In Townsville, Taumalolo played his junior rugby league for Townsville Brothers and 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 ...

, where he represented the Australian Schoolboys at the age of 16.

Playing career

Early career

In 2009, Taumalolo played for the Townsville Stingers in the Cyril Connell Cup, scoring seven tries. Later that year, he was selected in the Queensland under-16 team.

2010

In 2010, Taumalolo joined the Cowboys' under-20 side, making his debut at age 16. In Round 24 of the

2010 NRL season The 2010 NRL season was the 103rd season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the thirteenth run by the National Rugby League (NRL). The season commenced on 12 March and ended with the grand final, played on 3 ...

, he made his NRL debut for the Cowboys against 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 ...

, becoming the youngest ever player to debut for the club, aged 17 years, 2 months and 21 days, when he came off the bench in a 20–22 loss at Dairy Farmers Stadium. It was his only appearance for

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. In October, Taumalolo played for the Junior Kiwis.

2011

Taumalolo would make his second NRL appearance almost a year later in Round 24 against the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney District Rugby League Football Club, also known as the South Sydney Rabbitohs, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra, New South Wales, Maroubra that competes in the Nat ...

. He starred for the Cowboys in Round 25 against the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, coming off the interchange bench for the 3rd time to score two crucial tries and making two line breaks and 125 metres. At the end of the season, Taumalolo was awarded the Rugby League Player's Association's Toyota Cup Player of the Year award and was named in the Toyota Cup Team of the Year in the . Taumalolo played in the Cowboys in the NYC grand final 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 ...

, scoring a try in the golden point 31–30 loss. He played in three matches and scored two tries for the North Queensland outfit in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

. In October, he again played for the Junior Kiwis.

2012

On 17 February, Taumalolo re-signed with North Queensland until the end of the 2015 season. In March, he was reported to have declared his allegiance to

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, though on 7 April,

New Zealand Rugby League The New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league, rugby league football in New Zealand.#SPARC-2009, SPARC, 2009: 13 The NZRL was founded on 25 April 1910 in preparation for a 1910 Great Britain Lions tour o ...

's high performance manager Tony Kemp confirmed that Taumalolo had pledged allegiance to New Zealand, the country of his birth. Taumalolo was named as a reserve in the New Zealand squad for the 2012 ANZAC Test against Australia, but was not selected to play. Taumalolo finished the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

with five tries in 17 matches. In October, he was again selected for the Junior Kiwis. He was described as the "next

Sonny Bill Williams Sonny William Williams (born 3 August 1985) is a New Zealand heavyweight boxer, and a former professional rugby league and rugby union player. He is only the second person to represent New Zealand in rugby union after first playing for the cou ...

2013

On 20 April, Taumalolo made his international debut for

in the

Pacific Rugby League International 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 ...

against

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 ...

at Centerbet Stadium. Taumalolo was a standout in the Intrust Super Cup in the 2013 season, playing for Cowboys feeder club, the Mackay Cutters. The Cutters won the competition and dedicated their win to recently deceased teammate Alex Elisala. He would later go on to star for the Cowboys at the backend of the season including the club's semi-final loss to Cronulla. Taumalolo played 14 matches and scored 2 tries for the Cowboys in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

. In October, he represented Tonga in the 2013 Rugby League World Cup, playing in 2 matches and scoring a try in their match against the

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 ...

2014

In February, Taumalolo was selected in the Cowboys tournament winning inaugural Auckland Nines squad.

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

was a stand out season for Taumalolo with him playing 25 matches and scoring 6 tries as the Cowboys finished 5th. He made 241 hitups and gained 2889 metres. On 7 October, Taumalolo was selected in the Kiwis final 24 man squad for the Four Nations series. He made his test debut for New Zealand against

at in the Kiwis 30–12 win at

Suncorp Stadium Brisbane Stadium (Lang Park), currently known as Suncorp Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in the suburb of Milton, Queensland, Milton, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Nicknamed The Cauldron, it is a three-tiered rect ...

. Taumalolo played at lock in the Kiwis 22–18 Four Nations final win over Australia at Westpac Stadium. He capped off 2014 winning Tonga International Player of the Year Award. JasonTaumaloloTraining

2015

On 27 January, Taumalolo was named in the Cowboys 2015 NRL Auckland Nines squad. On 13 February, he was selected at lock for the NRL All Stars in the All Stars match at Cbus Super Stadium. Rejecting a $2 million contract offer from the New Zealand Warriors, Taumalolo extended his contract with the North Queensland side to the end of the 2017 season. On 28 September, Taumalolo was named at lock in the Dally M Team of the Year. On 4 October, in North Queensland's Queensland derby

against the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...

, Taumalolo started at lock in the Cowboys golden point 17–16 win. He finished North Queensland's premiership winning

with two tries from 26 matches. Taumalolo was selected in the 23-man New Zealand Test squad for the Baskerville Shield series but later withdrew due to injury.

2016

In the pre-season, Taumalolo again played in the Auckland Nines, and was a member of the Cowboys' World Club Challenge winning side, starting at lock in the 38–4 victory over the

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club play their home games at Headingley Rugby Stadium, AMT Headingley Rugby Stadium and compete in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby lea ...

Headingley Stadium Headingley Stadium is a stadium complex in Headingley, Leeds, West Yorkshire, and England. Linked by a two-sided stand housing common facilities, it comprises two separate grounds: Headingley Cricket Ground (home of Yorkshire County Cricket Clu ...

. On 6 May, Taumalolo played for the Kiwis against Australia, starting at lock in the 18–0 loss. In Round 14, he played his 100th NRL game. Taumalolo was named the Rugby League Players Association Player of the Year by his fellow players. He was also named as the joint winner of the Dally M Medal with 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 ...

's Cooper Cronk, in addition to being named Lock of the Year for the second consecutive season. After the Four Nations final against Australia, Taumalolo and Valentine Holmes were flown to the United States to take part in drills as part of scouting for NFL teams. The outfits, including Kansas City, then offered Taumalolo the opportunity to inspect their set-ups in the strongest sign of an NFL future.

2017

On 22 March, Taumalolo re-signed with the North Queensland club on a ten-year deal, which would see him stay with the club until the end of the 2027 season. He would go on to play 26 games for the Cowboys during the 2017 season, starting all of them at lock. On 1 October, he started at lock in North Queensland's

2017 NRL Grand Final The 2017 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2017 National Rugby League season and was played on Sunday October 1 at Sydney's ANZ Stadium. The match was contested between minor premiers the Melbourne Storm ...

loss to the

. He became the first forward in NRL history to run for over 5000 metres in a season, averaging 205.8 metres per game for the 2017 season. On 5 October, Taumalolo was named in the

squad for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup. He chose to represent the nation of his parents' birth, for whom he played for at the 2013 Rugby League World Cup, over the country of his birth New Zealand. This move, although negatively portrayed in mainstream media, was deemed a noble move by many of the public not only in New Zealand but around the world. On 6 October, he was awarded the Paul Bowman Medal for Cowboys' Player of the Year for the second straight season. He was also awarded the Royal Order; alongside his Mate Ma'a Tonga players by King

Tupou VI Tupou VI (ʻAho‘eitu ʻUnuakiʻotonga Tukuʻaho; born 12 July 1959) is King of Tonga. The youngest child of King Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV, he served as Prime Minister of Tonga from 2000 to 2006. Following his elder brother's accession to the ...

in their final visit to Tonga in 2017. KCsOSTIII 05

2018

In Round 11 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 ...

, Taumalolo played his 150th NRL game for North Queensland in their 19–20 loss to the

. Following another strong season, in which he averaged 177m per game, Taumalolo was awarded the Paul Bowman Medal for Cowboys' Player of the Year for the third straight time. On 26 September, he was named Lock of the Year at the 2018 Dally M Awards and finished sixth in voting, the highest of any forward. On 5 October he was named in Tonga's squad for their Test match against

2019

In Round 1 of 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 ...

, Taumalolo ran for a career-high 301 metres in the Cowboys' 24–12 win over the St. George Illawarra Dragons. In Round 2, he suffered a medial injury in a loss to the

, ruling him out for six weeks. He returned from injury in the Cowboys' Round 8 win over the Gold Coast Titans, scoring a try. In Round 13, he set a new career-high with 311 running metres in a 20–22 loss to 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 ...

. In June, he started at lock for

in their 14–34 loss to New Zealand. In Round 21, Taumalolo suffered a partial tear to his

plantar fascia The plantar fascia or plantar aponeurosis is the thick connective tissue aponeurosis which supports the Arches of the foot, arch on the bottom (plantar side) of the foot. Recent studies suggest that the plantar fascia is actually an aponeurosis r ...

, ruling him out for one week. He returned to play through the injury for the final three games of the season. Taumalolo played 18 games in 2019, his lowest tally since 2013. He finished the season with an average of 196.6 metres per game, the most for any forward in the competition. On 18 September, he won the Paul Bowman Medal for Cowboys' Player of the Year for the fourth straight season. On 26 October, Taumalolo led Tonga in beating

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

. A week later on 2 November, he led Tonga in their win against

, creating history as the first tier 2 nation to beat Australia since the system came into place. He stated that it was the greatest moment of his career.

2020

In February, Taumalolo was the captain of the Cowboys' 2020 NRL Nines winning squad and was named in the Team of the Tournament. He and teammate Kyle Feldt became the first players to win two

NRL Nines The NRL Nines is a rugby league nines competition, normally held during the NRL preseason each year. It was initially held in Auckland, New Zealand, between 2014 and 2017 before going on hiatus. Returning in 2020, hosting duties moved to P ...

championships. In Round 2, he set a new career-high with 345 running metres in a 24–16 win against the

. This was the most metres gained by a forward in one match and the third most of all time. In Round 6, Taumalolo captained the Cowboys for the first time, going onto captain the side six more times that season. In North Queensland's Round 15 loss to 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 ...

, tore his calf, ruling him out for three weeks. He returned off the bench in Round 19 in a loss to 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 ...

. On 3 October, Taumalolo won the Paul Bowman Medal for the fifth consecutive season, beating Johnathan Thurston's record of four wins. On 16 December, Taumalolo was named as co-captain of the Cowboys for the 2021 season, alongside Michael Morgan.

2021

Taumalolo played 15 games in the NRL, scoring one try. North Queensland would finish 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 ...

in 15th position on the table narrowly avoiding the

Wooden Spoon A wooden spoon is a Kitchen utensil, utensil commonly used in food preparation. In addition to its culinary uses, wooden spoons also feature in folk art and culture. History The word ''spoon'' derives from an ancient word meaning a chip of woo ...

2022

Taumalolo played for Tonga against New Zealand on 25 June at Mt Smart stadium. Taumalolo played 25 games for North Queensland 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 ...

including both the clubs finals matches which saw them finish one game short of the Grand Final losing to

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 preliminary final 24-20. Taumalolo was sin binned during the game for a high tackle. In the third group game at the

2021 Rugby League World Cup The 2021 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC2021) was a collection of world cups in the sport of rugby league, held in England from 15 October to 19 November 2022. England won hosting rights for the competition on 27 October 2016. The bid received � ...

, Taumalolo scored two tries and was awarded man of the match in Tonga's 92-10 victory over the Cook Islands.

2023

Taumalolo played 16 games for North Queensland 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 11th on the table.

2024

Taumalolo played 23 games for North Queensland 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 they finished 5th on the table and qualified for the finals. He played in both finals games for North Queensland as they were eliminated in the second week by Cronulla.

Achievements and accolades

Individual

: 2016 * Rugby League Players Association Player of the Year: 2016 *

Rugby League Week ''Rugby League Week'' (frequently abbreviated to RLW) was the highest selling Australian rugby league magazine, ahead of major competitor '' Big League''. It was published weekly (on Wednesdays) during the Australian rugby league season, which ...

Player of the Year: 2016 * Dally M Lock of the Year: 2015, 2016, 2018 * Paul Bowman Medal: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022 * North Queensland Cowboys Players' Player of the Year: 2016, 2017, 2018 * North Queensland Cowboys Member's Player of the Year: 2016, 2019 * North Queensland Cowboys Rookie of the Year: 2012 * North Queensland Cowboys NYC Player of the Year: 2010, 2011 * NYC Team of the Year: 2011 *Rugby League Players Association NYC Player of the Year: 2011

Team

* 2014 Auckland Nines: North Queensland Cowboys – Winners *

: North Queensland Cowboys – Winners * 2016 World Club Challenge: North Queensland Cowboys – Winners * 2020 NRL Nines: North Queensland Cowboys – Winners

Statistics

NRL

: ''Statistics are correct to the end of the 2024 season''

International

References

External links

North Queensland Cowboys profile

NRL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taumalolo, Jason 1993 births Living people Junior Kiwis players Mackay Cutters players New Zealand sportspeople of Tongan descent North Queensland Cowboys captains NRL All Stars players Papakura Sea Eagles players People educated at De La Salle College, Māngere East People educated at Kirwan State High School Rugby league second-rows Tonga national rugby league team captains Rugby league players from Auckland New Zealand national rugby league team players North Queensland Cowboys players