Jayden Nikorima (born 5 October 1996) is a New Zealand

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 is a player for the

Salford Red Devils The Salford Red Devils are a professional rugby league club in Salford, England. They play home games at Salford Community Stadium in Barton upon Irwell and compete in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby league system, British rugb ...

in the

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

. Nikorima previously played for the

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 ...

and

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 ...

(NRL).

Background

Nikorima was born in

Palmerston North, New Zealand Palmerston North (; , colloquially known as Palmerston or Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatū Plains, the city is near the north bank of the Ma ...

. He is of

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

and Irish descent. His older brother Kodi Nikorima is also a professional rugby league footballer, playing for the

Dolphins A dolphin is an aquatic mammal in the cetacean clade Odontoceti (toothed whale). Dolphins belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontopori ...

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 ...

. Nikorima moved to

Brisbane, Australia Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

as a 10-year old and played his junior football for the Aspley Devils before being signed by 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 ...

. Nikorima was educated at

Wavell State High School Wavell State High School is a coeducational public secondary school based in Wavell Heights, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The school has a total enrolment of more than 1500 students from years 7–12, with an official count of 1674 ...

. In 2013, Nikorima played for the

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 ...

Under-18s and the Australian Schoolboys representative teams respectively.

Playing career

Early career

In 2014 and 2015, Nikorima played for the

Holden Cup team. On 28 April 2014, Nikorima was named as 18th man for the Queensland Under-20s team. On 5 October 2014, Nikorima played for the Broncos in their 2014 Holden Cup 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 ...

, playing off the interchange bench, scoring a try and kicking 2 goals in the 34-32 loss. On 2 May 2015, Nikorima played for the

Junior Kangaroos The Junior Kangaroos side represents Australia in the sport of rugby league. They are commonly known as the Junior Kangaroos, after the native marsupial of that name. Since 2019, they are an under-23 side, with players selected from the NRL. Th ...

against the

Junior Kiwis The Junior Kiwis side represents New Zealand in the sport of rugby league. They are commonly known as the Junior Kiwis, after the native bird of that name. Since 2010, they are an under-20s side, with players selected from the NRL, Intrust Sup ...

, playing off the interchange bench in the 22-20 win at Cbus Super Stadium. On 8 July 2015, Nikorima represented the Queensland Under-20s team, playing at five-eighth in the 32-16 loss to the

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 ...

under-20s team 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 ...

. On 25 August 2015, it was announced that Nikorima had signed with the

on a 3-year deal starting from 2016, after months of speculation as to which club Nikorima would end up at. On 14 September 2015, Nikorima was named on the interchange bench in the 2015 Holden Cup Team of the Year.

2016

On 6 January, Nikorima was selected in the QAS under-20s Origin squad. Nikorima made his first team debut for the

in the

World Club Series The World Club Challenge is an annual rugby league competition between the winners of the Australian National Rugby League and the British Super League, for the de facto club world championship of the sport. Super League sides have won the c ...

against match St. Helens. 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, ...

, Nikorima made his

debut 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 ...

, playing at five-eighth in the Roosters 42-10 loss at the

Sydney Football Stadium Sydney Football Stadium may refer to: * Sydney Football Stadium (1988), the original stadium which was demolished in 2019. * Sydney Football Stadium (2022) Sydney Football Stadium, currently known as Allianz Stadium for sponsorship reasons, i ...

. In Round 2 against the

Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugb ...

, Nikorima scored his first NRL career try in the Roosters 21-20 loss at

Canberra Stadium Canberra Stadium, commercially known as GIO Stadium Canberra, is a facility primarily used for rugby league and rugby union games, located adjacent to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, the capital of Australia. It is the largest sp ...

. His season was hampered by hamstring injuries, which limited his appearances to just seven first grade games.

2017

In the 2017 season, he spent most of his time with

feeder club,

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 ...

. In December 2017 Nikorima failed a second drug test and was sacked by the

. The

handed down a 12-match suspension to Nikorima that would need to be served in 2018 before he could resume playing.

NSW Police The New South Wales Police Force is a law enforcement agency of the state of New South Wales, Australia, established in 1862. With more than 17,000 police officers, it is the largest police organisation in Australia, policing an area of 801,60 ...

would charge Nikorima with wilfully making a false declaration for material benefit after he had asked Wyong Roos teammate Brad Keighran to sign a statutory declaration to lie about spiking his drink. Keighran was found guilty for his part in the plot, and was sentenced to six months imprisonment, but served his term by way of an intensive community corrections order. Nikorima would also avoid imprisonment, instead serving a 12-month community corrections order after being convicted and fined $5,000. It was reported that for failing the drugs test he had cost himself close to $1m when he was sacked by the Roosters.

2019

He was signed with

feeder club,

Redcliffe Dolphins Redcliffe Dolphins are a semi-professional rugby league club based in Redcliffe, Queensland, Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1947, they were accepted into the Brisbane Rugby League premiership (rugby league competition), Brisbane R ...

in late 2018, joining the club in 2019 to play 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 ...

2021

In November 2021 he signed with

for 1 year.

2022

On 1 February 2022, Nikorima was named to make his New Zealand Māori debut against the Indigenous All Stars. In round 16, Nikorima made his

debut against 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 seaso ...

after playing his last NRL match over 2,264 days ago. He had his Storm debut jersey (cap 223) presented to him by teammate Cameron Munster.

2023

In round 27 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 ...

, Nikorima was called into the Melbourne side for their game against Brisbane which Melbourne would go on to win 32-22. On 30 September 2023, it was reported that Nikorima had signed for French side

Catalans Dragons The Catalans Dragons (French language, French: ''Dragons Catalans'', Catalan language, Catalan: ''Dracs Catalans'') are a professional rugby league club from Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales department, France. Despite being based in France the ...

on a two-year deal.

2024

On 12 July 2024 it was announced that

had terminated his contract, along with two other players namely Sio Siua Taukeiaho and

Damel Diakhate Damel was the title of the ruler (or king) of the Wolof kingdom of Cayor in what is now northwest Senegal, West Africa. The most well-known ''damel'' is probably Lat Dior Diop (1842–1886) who was killed by the French after decades of resisting t ...

, for being ''"...involved in an incident deemed to be ‘highly unacceptable’ by the French club and contrary to their values..."''. On 18 July, he signed a deal with the

to the end of the 2025 season.

References

External links

Sydney Roosters profile (archived)QRL profileMelbourne Storm profile (archived)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nikorima, Jayden 1996 births Living people 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen Catalans Dragons players Junior Kangaroos players Melbourne Storm players New South Wales Residents rugby league team players New Zealand people of Irish descent New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand Māori rugby league players People educated at Wavell State High School Rugby league halfbacks Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league players from Palmerston North Salford Red Devils players Sydney Roosters players Wyong Roos players