Paul Aiton (born 1985) is a Papua New Guinean former 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 is the current head-coach of the

PNG Hunters The Papua New Guinea Hunters (also referred to as PNG Hunters) are a professional rugby league football club based in Papua New Guinea. They were formed in December 2013 and compete in the Queensland Cup, a second tier competition in Australia. ...

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 ...

and assistant-coach of the PNG Kumuls. A

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

international representative , Aiton 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

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the Sutherland Shire of Southern Sydney, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. Cronulla compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugb ...

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 the

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 ...

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club play their home games at Headingley Rugby Stadium, AMT Headingley Rugby Stadium and compete in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby lea ...

and 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 ...

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 ...

Early life

Born in

Mount Hagen Mount Hagen () is the third largest city in Papua New Guinea, with a population of 46,250. It is the capital of the Western Highlands, Papua New Guinea, Western Highlands Province and is located in the large fertile Wahgi Valley in central mainlan ...

, Papua New Guinea to a Papua New Guinean mother, Anne, and an Australian father, John, Aiton moved to

Caboolture, Queensland Caboolture () is a town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb in the City of Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia. It is located on the northern side of the Caboolture River. In the , the suburb of Caboolture had a population of 29,534 p ...

, Australia with his family at a young age. He played his junior rugby league for the Caboolture Snakes and attended Morayfield State Primary School before joining the

Wests Panthers The Western Suburbs Panthers, or the West Brisbane Panthers, or often simply referred to as Wests for short, is a semi professional rugby league club based in the western suburbs of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The club is the oldest in the ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, where he was signed by the

in 2003.

Playing career

Penrith Panthers

After playing for Penrith's second-tier team, the St Mary's Cougars, in the

NSWRL Premier League 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 ...

, Aiton was called upon to make his NRL début on 23 April 2006, starting at hooker for Penrith in their round 8 match against the

, as a result of an injury sustained by

Craig Gower Craig Gower (born 29 April 1978) is an Italian-Australian former professional rugby league and rugby union footballer who played in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. He is a dual-code rugby international, having played rugby league for Australia and ...

. Aiton made 13 further appearances from the bench in 2006, and was named Penrith's Ben Alexander Rookie of the Year. He played a total of 72 games, scoring 8 tries, for the Panthers between 2006 and 2009.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks

Aiton signed a 2-year deal with Cronulla in 2010 and went on to make 36 appearances, scoring 5 tries. At the end of the 2011 season it was announced he was to leave Cronulla to go play in the

. Following his departure, he was one of seventeen Sharks players found guilty of using illegal substances under the club's 2011 supplements program. When the case was eventually concluded in 2016, Aiton had a twelve-month suspension recorded against his name, although he served none of the time due to backdating of the sanction.

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats

Aiton transferred to

in England on a two-year contract from 2012. He made 47 appearances for them in 2 years scoring 7 tries.

Leeds Rhinos

In November 2013, Aiton signed a three-year contract with the

starting in 2014. He played in the 2014 Challenge Cup Final victory over the

Castleford Tigers The Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England. They play their home games at Wheldon Road (currently known as the Mend-A-Hose Jungle for sponsorship reasons) and compete in the Super League, t ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

, Leeds' first in over a decade. He missed part of the 2014 season due to medication he was taking that prevented him from playing. Aiton was injured towards the end of the 2015 season and missed out on winning the Treble with Leeds. He left making 47 appearances scoring 3 times.

Catalans Dragons

On 5 August 2015, Aiton decided not to sign a new deal with the Leeds Rhinos, instead moving on to play for France's biggest rugby league franchise the

. Aiton said “I will always be honoured to have played for Leeds Rhinos but the opportunity to move to France from next season and be part of the Dragons was something that excited me at this stage in my career." He signed a three-year deal with the Dragons beginning in the 2016 season.

Representative career

In 2004, Aiton was selected to play for

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 a non-Test match. In 2007, Aiton played 3 matches for PNG during their end of season tour of Europe. Aiton was named in the Papua New Guinea squad for the

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth World Cup for men’s rugby league national teams. It was held between 26 October and 22 November and was won by New Zealand, who defeated Australia 34–20 in the final in one of the greatest ...

. He captained

in the

2010 Four Nations The 2010 Rugby League Four Nations tournament was played in Australia and New Zealand in October and November 2010. The tournament was the second time the Four Nations had been held, following on from the 2009 edition held in England and France. ...

tournament. He again played for Papua New Guinea 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 ...

and

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 ...

Coaching career

In 2021, Aiton was appointed assistant coach of the

Papua New Guinea Hunters The Papua New Guinea Hunters (also referred to as PNG Hunters) are a professional rugby league football club based in Papua New Guinea. They were formed in December 2013 and compete in the Queensland Cup, a second tier competition in Australia. ...

in the

. On 17 Nov 2023, Aiton was appointed head-coach of the

in the

References

External links

Catalans Dragons profile
*(archived by web.archive.org
Cronulla Sharks profilePaul Aiton at ''NRL.com''SL profile2017 RLWC profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aiton, Paul 1985 births Living people 21st-century Papua New Guinean sportsmen Catalans Dragons players Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks players Doping cases in rugby league Leeds Rhinos players Papua New Guinea national rugby league team captains Papua New Guinea national rugby league team players Papua New Guinean emigrants to Australia Papua New Guinean expatriate rugby league players in England Papua New Guinean expatriate rugby league players Papua New Guinean people of Australian descent Papua New Guinean rugby league coaches Papua New Guinean rugby league players Penrith Panthers players PNG Prime Minister's XIII captains PNG Prime Minister's XIII players Rugby league hookers Rugby league locks Rugby league players from the Western Highlands Province Wakefield Trinity players Windsor Wolves players