Jaydn Su'A (born 23 October 1997) is a

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 ...

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

St George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons are an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since 1999 after a j ...

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 previously played for 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 ...

and

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 ...

in the NRL, and at representative level for

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 ...

in the

State of Origin series The State of Origin series is an annual best-of-three rugby league series between two States and territories of Australia, Australian state representative sides, the New South Wales rugby league team, New South Wales Blues and the Queensland ru ...

Background

Su'A was born in

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

, New Zealand. He is of Samoan descent and moved to Australia at the age of two. He attended

Marsden State High School Marsden State High School (MSHS) is a public co-educational secondary school located in the Logan City suburb of Waterford West, Queensland, Australia. It is administered by the Department of Education, with an enrolment of 3,702 students and ...

and later

Anglican Church Grammar School The Anglican Church Grammar School (ACGS), formerly the Church of England Grammar School and commonly referred to as Churchie, is an independent, Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican, Day school, day and boarding school for boys, located in ...

, where he played for their

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 ...

team. He played his junior rugby league for the Logan Brothers, before being signed by 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 ...

at the age of 13. After two years on a scholarship with the Raiders, he signed with the

Playing career

Early career

In 2012, Su'A played in the

Souths Logan Magpies The Souths Logan Magpies, more commonly referred to by their former names Southern Suburbs Magpies, or South Brisbane Magpies, or often simply referred to as Souths, are a rugby league football club based in the southern suburbs of Brisbane, Au ...

' Cyril Connell Cup and National Title winning sides as a 15-year-old. In 2013, he represented the Queensland under-16 rugby league team. In 2015, he joined the Brisbane Broncos' NYC team. That year, he represented the

Queensland under-18 rugby league team The Queensland Under-18 rugby league team, also known as Queensland Under-18s or Queensland U18, represents Queensland in the sport of rugby league at an under-18 age level. Since 2008, the team has played an annual fixture against the New Sout ...

, scoring a try and being named Man of the Match.

2016

On 7 May, Su'A represented 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 ...

and was named Man of the Match in their win over 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 ...

. In Round 12 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, ...

, he made his

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 ...

debut for the Broncos 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 ...

. On 13 July, he captained the Queensland under-20 rugby league team. In September, he was named at second-row in the 2016 NYC Team of the Year. In September, he re-signed with the Broncos on a 2-year contract until the end of 2018.

2017

In the

2017 NRL season The 2017 NRL season was the 110th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 20th 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, ...

, Su'A was limited to only 4 first grade appearances for Brisbane and did not feature in the club's finals campaign.

2018

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 ...

, Su'A made 15 appearances for Brisbane, but missed out on playing in the club's finals campaign due to injury.

2019

At the start 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 ...

, Su'A made 8 appearances for Brisbane as they lost 8 of their first 13 games which was one of the worst beginnings to a season in the club's history. On 28 June, Su'A signed a two-year contract to join South Sydney in a mid-season switch from Brisbane. Su'A made his debut for South Sydney against Manly-Warringah in Round 17 at

ANZ Stadium Stadium Australia, currently known as Accor Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the suburb of Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The stadium, which is sometimes referred to as Sydney Ol ...

which ended in a 21–20 victory.

2020

Throughout 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 ...

, Su'A made 21 appearances for South Sydney, establishing himself as one of the competition's most improved players. Su'A was selected in the

Queensland rugby league team The Queensland rugby league team represents the Australian state of Queensland in rugby league football. Nicknamed the "Maroons" after the colour of their jersey, they play three times a year against arch-rivals New South Wales rugby league tea ...

for the

2020 State of Origin series The 2020 State of Origin series was the 39th 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 debut in Game One, playing a solid 48 minutes off the bench as Queensland upset New South Wales.

2021

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 ...

, Su'A reinforced the previous years success, playing an instrumental role that helped the

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 that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL). ...

achieve a Top 4 finish. In Round 8, Su'a scored his first try of the season in a 34-20 point win over the

. In Round 19, Su'A scored 2 tries 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 ...

in a match that saw the Rabbitohs win 60–22. On 21 July, Su'A signed a three-year deal with St. George Illawarra. Su'A played a total of 23 games for South Sydney 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

2021 NRL Grand Final The 2021 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2021 National Rugby League season in Australia. It was contested between the Penrith Panthers and the South Sydney Rabbitohs on Sunday 3 October at Suncorp Stadi ...

defeat against Penrith.

2022

In Round 1 of 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 ...

, he made his club debut for St. George Illawarra in their 28-16 victory over the

. In Rounds 2 and 3, Su'A was sent to the sin bin in consecutive weeks for dangerous tackles. Throughout 2022, Su'A played 18 games as St. George Illlawarra finished 10th, missing finals for fourth straight season. In October Su'A was named in the Samoa squad for 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 � ...

. Su'A played for Samoa in their 2021 Rugby League World Cup final loss to Australia.

2023

Su'A played a total of 13 games for St. George Illawarra 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 they finished 16th on the table.

2024

Su’A was named in the second row for Queensland ahead of game one in the

2024 State of Origin series The 2024 State of Origin series was the 43rd annual best-of-three series between the Queensland and New South Wales rugby league teams. Before this series, Queensland had won 24 times, NSW 16 times, with two series drawn. Game I Game I was hel ...

. In round 22 of 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 ...

, Su'A scored two tries for St. George Illawarra in their 18-16 upset victory over

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. He played a total of 22 games for St. George Illawarra in the 2024 NRL season and scored nine tries as the club finished 11th on the table.

2025

In round 9 of the

2025 NRL season The 2025 NRL season is the 118th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 28th season run by the National Rugby League (NRL). The regular season will be followed by a finals series contested by the top eight teams on the competiti ...

, Su'A was involved in one of the biggest bombed tries of the year. St. George Illawarra were trailing the match against the Wests Tigers by ten points when Su'A appeared to score a try right before half-time. As Su'A went to place the ball over the line, it came off his knee and he lost it forwards. The Wests Tigers would then race away and score down the other end of the field. St. George Illawarra would end up losing the match by six points.

Statistics

References

External links

South Sydney Rabbitohs profileBrisbane Broncos profileSamoa profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:SuA, Jaydn 1997 births Living people Australian rugby league players Australian sportspeople of Samoan descent Samoa national rugby league team players Samoan rugby league players Brisbane Broncos players Junior Kangaroos players Rugby league second-rows Souths Logan Magpies players Rugby league players from Christchurch Rugby league players from Queensland New Zealand emigrants to Australia South Sydney Rabbitohs players Queensland Rugby League State of Origin players St. George Illawarra Dragons players People educated at Anglican Church Grammar School 21st-century Australian sportsmen