Kalifa Faifai Loa (born 29 January 1991) 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 er for the

Townsville Blackhawks The Townsville & Districts Blackhawks are an Australian semi-professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, Queensland. They compete in Queensland's top rugby league competition, the Queensland Cup. The club was admitted to the Que ...

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 ...

. A

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 ...

and Samoa international representative, he previously played 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 ...

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 ...

and 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 ...

. Switched codes in 2020 playing in the Townsville district rugby union for the Western Suburbs Dragons and scoring 14 tries in 14 games at full back

Background

Born in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

, New Zealand, Faifai Loa is of Samoan and Māori descent and played his junior football for the

Marist Saints The Marist Saints is a rugby league club based in Mount Albert, New Zealand. They currently compete in the top grade in Auckland Rugby League, the Fox Memorial Premiership. History Founded in 1919, the Marist club first won the Fox Memorial in 1 ...

in the

Auckland Rugby League The Auckland Rugby League (ARL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league in the Auckland Region of New Zealand. Founded in 1909, the ARL has played a pivotal role in the development and promotion of rugby league in Auckland and beyond. ...

competition, before being signed by 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 ...

. He played for the Knights' Toyota Cup team in 2008, scoring 7 tries in 10 games.

Playing career

St. George Illawarra Dragons

Faifai Loa returned to New Zealand before signing a contract with the

starting in 2009. As a 20-year-old, Faifai Loa scored 12 tries and broke near 100 tackles throughout the 2009 Toyota Cup season. In 2010 he averaged over 200 metres a game and scored 11 tries in 13 appearances. Altogether, he scored 29 tries in 45 games and being named in the 2010 National Youth Competition Team of the Year. In Round 11 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 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 St. George Illawarra 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 ...

. In his second

game, Faifai Loa scored 2 tries. At the end of 2010, it appeared that salary cap demands would force him out of the St. George club. Faifai Loa is cousins with fellow

international Jeremy Smith. Faifai Loa lived with Smith when they were playing for the

. In July 2010, Faifai Loa signed a two-year contract with the

starting in 2011.

North Queensland Cowboys

In round 3 of the

2011 NRL season The 2011 NRL season was the 104th season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the fourteenth and last run by the National Rugby League's partnership committee of the Australian Rugby League and News Ltd. The ...

, Faifai Loa made his debut for the

against 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 ...

. After the 2011 season, Faifai Loa was selected to make his international debut for

in the test match against

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 ...

Ausgrid Stadium Newcastle International Sports Centre, currently known as McDonald Jones Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose sports stadium located in Newcastle, Australia. The ground is home to the Newcastle Knights (National Rugby League) an ...

. He was then selected in the New Zealand squad for the

2011 Four Nations The 2011 Rugby League Four Nations tournament (also known as the 2011 Gillette Rugby League Four Nations due to sponsorship by Gillette), was the third staging of the Rugby League Four Nations tournament, and was played in England and Wales durin ...

tournament, scoring his first international try in the tournament's opening match against Australia. In December 2011, Faifai Loa re-signed with the North Queensland club for two years. On 20 April 2013 he played for

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 ...

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

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 ...

Gold Coast Titans

Faifai Loa played nine games for the Gold Coast in 2014, scoring 4 tries. In 2015, Faifai Loa represented the Queensland Residents. He went on to play 7 NRL games for the Gold Coast in the same year, scoring 5 tries.

Return to the St. George Illawarra Dragons

On 12 October 2015, Faifai Loa signed a two-year contract with the

starting in 2016, returning to his first team. He was a member of the

Illawarra Cutters The Illawarra Rugby League Football Club was an Australian rugby league football club based in Illawarra formed in 2012. Originally known as the Illawarra Cutters, they became known as the Illawarra RLFC before the 2017 Intrust Super Premiership ...

2016

Intrust Super Premiership The NSW Cup, currently known as the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. The competition has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserve ...

grand final winning side.

Townsville Blackhawks

In October 2017, Faifai Loa signed with

Intrust Super Cup The Queensland Cup, currently known as the Hostplus Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level regional rugby league football competition in Queensland, Australia. It is run by the Queensland Rugby League (QRL) and is contested by fif ...

side, the

for the 2018 season. In his first season with the 'Hawks he would score 70 season points from 16 tries and 8 goals. 2019 Season In his 2019 Faifai would make 25 appearances. He scored 13 and made 8 conversions for a season tally of 68 points. Out of the 25 games he played for the 2 games for the finals appearance the Blackhawks made. But ultimately coming short to the grand final from in their 14- 26 loss to the Wynnum Manly Seagulls. 2020 Season Due to the Covid-19 outbreak the Intrust Super Cup was cancelled just before round 1. Therefore Kalifa took up club rugby in TDRU (Townsville and District Rugby Union) and played for Western Suburbs. 2021 Season In 2021 Kalifa played 16 games for the 'Hawks scoring 12 tries and only having 1 conversion making his season points 50. He played in the Blackhawks one only finals game appearance against Souths Logan Magpies scoring a try but losing the game 30-24

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Faifai Loa, Kalifa 1991 births Living people 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen Gold Coast Titans players Mackay Cutters players Marist Saints players New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand Māori rugby league players New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent New Zealand national rugby league team players North Queensland Cowboys players Northern Pride RLFC players Queensland Residents rugby league team players Rugby league wingers Rugby league players from Wellington City Samoa national rugby league team players Samoan rugby league players St. George Illawarra Dragons players Tweed Heads Seagulls players