Keith Lulia (born 17 June 1987) is a former Cook Islands 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 played in the 2000s and 2010s. He previously played for 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 ...

, 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 ...

, 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 ...

and the

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, and compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. The club have won the League Championship six times, the Challenge Cup f ...

. He primarily played as a and as a , but could also fill in at .

Background

Born in

Wollongong, New South Wales Wollongong ( ; Dharawal: ''Woolyungah'') is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near water' or 'sound ...

descendant from the Cook Islands Pukapuka AKA Danger Island where both his parents are from. Lulia Was educated at

Illawarra Sports High School Illawarra Sports High School is a government-funded co-educational comprehensive and specialist secondary day school, with speciality in sports, located in Berkeley, a southern suburb of Wollongong, in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, ...

. Lulia began his junior rugby league career at the

Port Kembla Blacks The Port Kembla Blacks (or Port Kembla Rugby League Football Club) were a Rugby League team from Port Kembla, New South Wales, Australia that competed in the Illawarra Rugby League competition from 1914 to 2008 before moving to the Group 7 Rugb ...

Playing career

St. George Illawarra Dragons

Lulia 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 ...

début for the

in Round 1 of the

2007 NRL season The 2007 NRL season was the one hundredth season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the tenth run by the National Rugby League. Sixteen teams contested the NRL's 2007 Telstra Premiership, and with the inclusi ...

against the newly admitted Gold Coast side. He scored a try on debut in a 20-18 victory.

Newcastle Knights

Brian Smith Brian Smith may refer to: Academics and educators *Sir Brian Smith (chemist) (1933–2023), British university administrator * Brian David Smith (born 1961), academic researcher, author and adviser in the area of strategic management *Brian Cantwe ...

signed Lulia to be a part of the

side of 2008. He played in 46 matches for the Newcastle outfit spanning from 2008 to 2011.

Bradford Bulls (Super League)

In June 2011, the

announced that Lulia had signed a two-year contract with 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 ...

club. In 2012, Lulia missed the all four pre-season games due to a biceps tear. He also missed the first 2 rounds. However he featured in 25 consecutive games from Round 3 against Wigan to Round 27 against the

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 ...

. He also featured in the

Challenge Cup The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...

against

Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...

and

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

. Lulia played in the pre-season friendlies against

Dewsbury Dewsbury is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder, West Yorkshire, River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, ...

and

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

. Lulia featured in seven consecutive games from Round 1

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. The club play their home fixtures at the DIY Kitchen Stadium, Belle Vue and currently compete in the Super League, the top tier of the British rugby le ...

to Round 7

Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers (often abbreviated to Hull KR) are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Craven Park, Hull, Craven Park and compete in Super League, the top tier of B ...

. He was injured for Round 8. He featured in Round 9

to Round 20

. He missed Round 21 due to the birth of his child. Lulia returned in Round 22 against

Hull F.C. Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Hull play their home games at the MKM Stadium and compete in Super League, the ...

to Round 27

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

. Lulia also featured in the

against

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

and the

London Broncos The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club based in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, England. They play their home games at Plough Lane and currently compete in the RFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of British rugby le ...

Wests Tigers

On 18 July 2013, Lulia signed a two-year deal with the

, starting in 2014. He appeared sporadically in first grade in 2014, covering for injured players Chris Lawrence, Tim Simona and

David Nofoaluma David Nofoaluma (born 28 November 1993) is a professional rugby league footballer who plays for the Halifax Panthers in the RFL Championship, and internationally for both Serbia national rugby league team, Serbia and Samoa national rugby league ...

. In Round 19 of the

2014 NRL season The 2014 NRL season was the 107th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 17th season of the National Rugby League in Australia and New Zealand. The season started in New Zealand, for the Auckland Nines, replacing the Rugby Leagu ...

, Lulia scored four tries 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 ...

, equaling the club record set by Kevin McGuinness and

Marika Koroibete Marika Koroibete (born 26 July 1992) is a List of dual-code rugby internationals, dual-code international rugby league and rugby union footballer. He plays for the Australia national rugby union team, and plays as a winger for the Melbourne Rebe ...

. His coach,

Mick Potter Michael Potter (born 24 September 1963) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who most recently served as the interim head coach of the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the National Rugby League (NRL), and a former professi ...

, said, "that was a great performance from him. His finishing ability was just second to none. A couple of those tries he scored, not too many people can do that sort of stuff." In August 2014, Lulia suffered a small vertebrae fracture to his neck and played no further football for the year. He made no first grade appearances in 2015 and was released at the end of the year.

Representative career

Lulia represented 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 ...

and was part of their squad for the

2009 Pacific Cup The 2009 Pacific Cup, known as the 2009 SP Brewery Pacific Cup due to sponsorship, was a rugby league competition held in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. The competing teams were the , , , , . Tonga, Fiji and PNG had their places in the draw c ...

.Roosters gain international stripes
''sydneyroosters.com.au'', 7 October 2009 He was also part of the team that took part in the

2013 Rugby League World Cup The 2013 Rugby League World Cup was the fourteenth World Cup for men’s national rugby league teams. It took place between the 26 October and 30 November and was hosted by England and Wales (although some games were played in France and Ire ...

that was held in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

References

External links

2011 Newcastle Knights profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lulia, Keith 1987 births Living people 21st-century Australian sportsmen Australian expatriate rugby league players in England Australian people of Cook Island descent Australian rugby league players Bradford Bulls players Central Coast Centurions players Cook Island expatriate rugby league players Cook Island expatriate sportspeople in England Cook Island rugby league players Cook Islands national rugby league team players Macquarie Scorpions players New Zealand expatriate rugby league players in England Newcastle Knights players Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Wollongong Rugby league second-rows Rugby league wingers Sportsmen from New South Wales St. George Illawarra Dragons players Wests Tigers NSW Cup players Wests Tigers players