Manu Maʻu (born 24 August 1988) is a
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
Souths Sharks in
Mackay, Queensland
}
Mackay () is a city in the Mackay Region on the eastern or Coral Sea coast of Queensland, Australia. It is located about north of Brisbane, on the Pioneer River. Mackay is described as being in either Central Queensland or North Queensland ...
. He has played for both
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 ...
and
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 ...
at international level.
He previously played for the
Parramatta Eels
The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL).
The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and ...
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 ...
and
Hull FC
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 t ...
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 ...
.
Background
Ma'u was born in
Auckland, New Zealand
Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...
, and is of
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 ...
n descent. He attended
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 ...
nursery
St Paul's College, Auckland
St Paul's College is a Catholic secondary school for boys owned by the Marist Brothers and located in the central Auckland suburb of Ponsonby on a spacious 7.3 hectare campus. The Marist Brothers first opened a school on the site ( Sacred Hear ...
.
He played his junior football for the
Richmond Rovers
The Richmond Rovers Rugby League Club is a rugby league club based in Grey Lynn, New Zealand. The premier team is called the Richmond Bulldogs/Richmond Rovers and compete in Auckland Rugby League's first grade Fox Memorial competition. They have ...
and
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 ...
.
Early years
Ma'u was an original member of Auckland's Roskill South-based "JDK", one of the many street
gangs in New Zealand
There are numerous gangs in New Zealand, of varying criminality, organisation and ethnicity, including outlaw motorcycle club, outlaw motorcycle gangs, street gangs and ethnically based gangs. A chapter of the Hells Angels motorcycle club was f ...
.
In 2007, after one of the gang was stabbed during an altercation, the gang gatecrashed a 21st birthday party in an alcohol-fuelled quest for vengeance, found the alleged perpetrators and "unleashed hell".
Two months later, Maʻu was arrested along with his brother, Semisi. He was convicted of grievous bodily harm with intent to injure and served 22 months in prison.
Ma'u was released in 2009 to work and continue his rugby league career,
and joined the
New Zealand Warriors' reserves team the
Auckland Vulcans
The Auckland Vulcans were an Auckland based rugby league club that participated in the New South Wales Cup. They were administered by the Rugby League Development Foundation. The team was selected from the Auckland Rugby League's Fox Memorial C ...
in the
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 ...
. But he found himself unable to play away games, as the Australian immigration department denied him a visa, citing his criminal history.
In 2013, after his manager and the
Parramatta Eels
The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL).
The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and ...
battled for a year to gain the necessary visa, Ma'u moved to Australia to play in the
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 ...
for the
Wentworthville Magpies
The Wentworthville Magpies, colloquially known as ''Wenty'', are an Australian rugby league team based in the suburb of Wentworthville in Greater Western Sydney, Sydney's Western Suburbs. Founded in 1963 (or 1937), the club has competed in vari ...
, the Eels' reserves team.
A reformed man with a young family of his own, Ma'u was eager to put his past behind him and make the most of his opportunity with the Eels. Ma'u said "I want to repay Parramatta for their faith," "I want to build a future. I want my partner Alisi and my kids
elino and Levito be proud of me and I want my family to realise I'm not that naughty boy that caused them pain."
Playing career
2014
In February 2014, Ma'u was included in the Eels inaugural
2014 Auckland Nines
The 2014 NRL Auckland Nines (known as the Dick Smith NRL Auckland Nines due to sponsorship) was the first NRL Auckland Nines tournament, contested between all sixteen teams of the National Rugby League. The draw was released on 30 October 2013 ...
squad. In Round 1 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 ...
, Ma'u made his NRL debut for the
Parramatta Eels
The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL).
The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and ...
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 ...
at . Ma’u won the Man of the Match award on debut in Parramatta's 36-16 win at
Parramatta Stadium
Parramatta Stadium was a sports stadium in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia, west of Sydney CBD. The stadium was the home ground of several western Sydney-based sports teams, at the time of closure the most notable were the Parramatta E ...
.
In Round 4 against 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 ...
, Ma’u scored his first NRL career try in the 32-16 win at Parramatta Stadium. On 5 June 2014, Ma’u extended his contract with the Parramatta club for a further three years to the end of the 2017 season. In Round 14 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 ...
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 ...
, Ma’u debut year in the NRL was over after suffering a fractured forearm in the Parramatta's 22-12 win. Ma’u finished off his debut year in the NRL with him playing in 13 matches and scoring a try for the Parramatta side in the 2014 NRL season.
2015
On 31 January and 1 February, Ma'u played for the Eels in the
2015 NRL Auckland Nines
The 2015 NRL Auckland Nines (known as the Dick Smith NRL Auckland Nines due to sponsorship) was the second NRL Auckland Nines tournament, contested between all sixteen teams of the National Rugby League. The draw was released on 16 September 20 ...
. On 2 May, Ma'u represented
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 ...
in their 2015
Polynesian Cup
The Polynesian Cup is a rugby league football test match played between Samoa and Tonga first played in 2010. The matches in 2015, 2016 and 2018 were played as double-headers with the Melanesian Cup.
Results
See also
*Polynesia Cup – sim ...
test-match against Pacific rivals
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 ...
, playing at second-row in Tonga's 18-16 loss at
Cbus Super Stadium. He finished off the
2015 season having played in 22 matches and scoring 5 tries for Parramatta club. On 8 September, he was named in the
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 ...
train-on squad, however didn't make the final squad so played for Tonga in their
Asia-Pacific Qualifier 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 ...
for the
2017 Rugby League World Cup
The 2017 Rugby League World Cup was the fifteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup tournament and took place in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea between 27 October and 2 December 2017. The tournament featured the national teams ...
, playing at second-row in Tonga's 28-8 win at
Campbelltown Stadium
Campbelltown Sports Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Leumeah, a suburb in South Western Sydney, Australia, owned by Campbelltown City Council. Formerly known as Orana Park and Campbelltown Sports Ground, it is currently the home ground ...
.
2016
On 1 February 2016, Ma'u was named in the Eels'
2016 NRL Auckland Nines
The 2016 NRL Auckland Nines (known as the Downer NRL Auckland Nines due to sponsorship) was the third NRL Auckland Nines competition. It was held on 6–7 February 2016 at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand. As with previous tournaments, it wa ...
squad. On 6 May 2016, Ma'u made his debut for
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 ...
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 ...
in the
2016 Anzac Test
The 2016 Anzac Test (known as the Downer Anzac Test due to sponsorship) was a rugby league test match played between Australia and New Zealand at Hunter Stadium in Newcastle. It was the 17th Anzac Test played between the two nations since the ...
, starting at second-row in the 16-0 loss 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 15 September 2016 at the Parramatta presentation night, Ma’u was awarded with the Ken Thornett Medal as being the club's Players’ Player of the year. Ma’u finished 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, ...
with him playing in 22 matches and scoring two tries for the Parramatta club. On 25 September 2016, Ma’u was rewarded for his solid season with the club by getting his contract extended to the end of the 2019 season. On 4 October 2016, Ma’u was selected in the New Zealand Kiwis 24-man squad for the
2016 Four Nations. Ma’u played in all 5 matches of the tournament including starting at second-row in the Kiwis 34-8 Four Nations Final loss against Australia at
Anfield
Anfield is a Association football, football stadium in the area of Anfield (suburb), Anfield, Liverpool, England, which has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since its formation in 1892. The stadium has a seating capacity of 61,276, making it the ...
.
2017
In the 2017 season, Ma'u played 24 games for Parramatta as they finished fourth on the table at the end of the season and qualified for the finals which was the club's first appearance since the 2009 season.
Ma'u elected to switch his national allegiance
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 ...
in 2017.

He was named in the
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 ...
squad for the
2017 Rugby League World Cup
The 2017 Rugby League World Cup was the fifteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup tournament and took place in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea between 27 October and 2 December 2017. The tournament featured the national teams ...
and played in every match of their historic charge to the semi-finals. He scored a try in their victory over arch-rivals
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 ...
.
2018
On 27 June 2018, Ma'u was ruled out for the rest of the season after suffering a fractured cheekbone in a middle of the season test match while playing for Tonga against Samoa. Even though Parramatta were running last at the time, Ma'u was cited as being one of the better players in the struggling side.
2019
After missing the start of the season through injury, Ma'u made his return for Parramatta in Round 7 against Newcastle scoring a try in a 28-14 loss.
On 8 July 2019, it was announced that Ma'u had signed a 2-year deal with
Hull F.C. in England starting in the 2020 Super League season.
At the end of the 2019 regular season, Parramatta finished in 5th place on the table and qualified for the finals. In the elimination final against Brisbane, Ma'u kicked a goal in his last home game as Parramatta won the match 58-0 at the new
Western Sydney Stadium
Western Sydney Stadium, currently known as CommBank Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in the suburb of Parramatta, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It replaced the demolished Parramatta Stadium (1986) which in turn ...
. The victory was the biggest finals win in history, eclipsing Newtown's 55-7 win over St George in 1944. The match was also Parramatta's biggest win over Brisbane and Brisbane's worst ever loss since entering the competition in 1988.
Ma'u played his final game for Parramatta the following week as the club were defeated 32-0 by Melbourne in the elimination semi final at
AAMI Park
The Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, currently known as AAMI Park for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Precinct in the suburb of East Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victor ...
.
2020
He played 11 games for
Hull F.C. in the 2020 Super League season including the semi-final defeat against
Wigan
Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...
.
2021
Ma'u played 20 games for Hull F.C. in the 2021 Super League season in which the club finished 8th on the table and missed out on the playoffs.
2022
On 12 July 2022, Ma'u signed a two-year deal to join 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 ...
starting in 2023. Mau'u played a total of 14 games for Hull F.C. in the 2022 Super League season which saw the club finish 9th on the table.
2023
In round 4 of the 2023 Super League season, Ma'u scored two tries and was also sin binned during Catalans 18-10 victory over
Wigan
Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...
.
On 14 October, Ma'u played in Catalans
2023 Super League Grand Final
The 2023 Super League Grand Final, was the 26th official grand final, and championship-deciding rugby league game of Super League XXVIII. The match was contested between Wigan Warriors and Catalans Dragons, at Old Trafford.
St Helens were the ...
loss against
Wigan
Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...
.
2024
Ma'u would depart Catalans at the end of the season. It was announced on 9 November that Ma'u had returned to Australia and signed with Souths Sharks.
Statistics
References
External links
Parramatta Eels profile2017 RLWC profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ma'u, Manu
1988 births
Living people
Auckland rugby league team players
Catalans Dragons players
Hull F.C. players
Marist Saints players
New Zealand national rugby league team players
New Zealand sportspeople of Tongan descent
New Zealand rugby league players
Parramatta Eels players
People educated at St Paul's College, Auckland
Richmond Bulldogs players
Rugby league locks
Rugby league players from Auckland
Rugby league second-rows
Tonga national rugby league team players
Tongan rugby league players
Wentworthville Magpies players