Leilani Latu (born 5 February 1993) is a

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 ...

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 as a most recently for the

Warrington Wolves Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England. They play home games at the Halliwell Jones Stadium and compete in Super League, the top tier of British rugby league system, British rugby league. Warringto ...

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 ...

. Latu has spent time on loan from

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 ...

at the

Widnes Vikings The Widnes Vikings are an English rugby league club in Widnes, Cheshire, which competes in the RFL Championship, Betfred Championship. The club plays home matches at DCBL Stadium. Founded as Widnes Football Club, they are one of the original twe ...

in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

and has played for 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 ...

and the

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 ...

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 ...

. He has played at representative level for the Indigenous All Stars and NSW City.

Background

Latu was born in

Sydney, New South Wales Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Australia. He is of Tongan,

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

and

Torres Strait Islander Torres Strait Islanders ( ) are the Indigenous Melanesians, Melanesian people of the Torres Strait Islands, which are part of the state of Queensland, Australia. Ethnically distinct from the Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal peoples of the res ...

descent. He spent his junior years playing for the Leichhardt Juniors when then he switched over to play in Lakemba for the St Johns Eagles. He played his junior rugby league for St. John Eagles, Lakemba, before being signed by 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 ...

Playing career

Early career

In 2011, Latu captained the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs to the grand final of the

S. G. Ball Cup The S. G. Ball Cup is a junior rugby league football competition played predominantly in New South Wales, between teams made up of male players aged under 19. Teams from Canberra and Melbourne, and Auckland also participate. Prior to the COVID ...

, before moving into their National Youth Competition team, where he stayed until 2012. In 2013, he graduated to the Bulldogs'

New South Wales Cup 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 ...

team.

In 2014, he joined the

on a 2-year contract.

2015

On 3 May, Latu played for the New South Wales Residents against the

Queensland Residents The Queensland Residents rugby league team is a representative rugby league team consisting of players who compete in the Intrust Super Cup (Queensland Cup) competition. They currently play an annual fixture against NSW Cup Representative Tea ...

. In Round 21 of the

2015 NRL season The 2015 NRL season was the 108th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 18th season of the National Rugby League in Australia and New Zealand. The season started in New Zealand with the annual Auckland Nines, which was followe ...

, he made his

debut for the Panthers 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 ...

. On 14 September, he re-signed with the Panthers on a 2-year contract until the end of 2017. On 27 September, he was named at lock in the 2015 New South Wales Cup Team of the Year. On 9 October, Latu was named to make his international debut for Tonga in their 2017 World Cup qualifying 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 ...

, though he was replaced by 18th man David Fifita in a late change.

2016

On 13 February, Latu played for the Indigenous All Stars against the

World All Stars The NRL All Stars team was a rugby league football team made up of professional players in the National Rugby League. These players were selected by fan vote. However, fans were only allowed to select one player from each NRL team to join the Au ...

, playing off the interchange bench and scoring a try i his team's 8-12 loss 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 20 July, he extended his contract with the Panthers from the end of 2017 until the end of 2020.

2017

On 10 February 2017, Latu played for the Indigenous All Stars against the

in the 2017 All Stars match, coming off the interchange bench in the 34-8 win at

Hunter Stadium Newcastle International Sports Centre, currently known as McDonald Jones Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose sports stadium located in Newcastle, New South Wales, Newcastle, Australia. The ground is home to the Newcastle Knight ...

. On 6 May 2017, Latu made his international debut for Tonga, scoring 2 tries in their 2017 Pacific Test against

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

2018

Latu made his debut for the Gold Coast in round 1 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 ...

against Canberra which ended in a 30-28 victory. Latu made a total of 6 appearances for the Gold Coast as the club finished in 14th position on the table.

2019

Latu was limited to only three games for the Gold Coast in 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 ...

as the club endured a horror year on and off the field which saw them finish last on the table.

2020

On 21 January, Latu signed a two-year deal to join English

side

2021

On 10 Feb 2021 it was announced that Leilani was leaving Warrington by mutual consent

References

External links

Gold Coast Titans profileNRL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Latu, Leilani 1993 births Living people Australian people of Italian descent Sportspeople of Italian descent Australian sportspeople of Tongan descent Australian rugby league players Australian expatriate rugby league players in England Gold Coast Titans players Indigenous All Stars players New South Wales City Origin rugby league team players New South Wales Residents rugby league team players Penrith Panthers players Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby league props Tonga national rugby league team players Tongan rugby league players Torres Strait Islands Warrington Wolves players Widnes Vikings players 21st-century Australian sportsmen