Sosefo "Jojo" Fifita (born 8 January 2003) is a New Zealand 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 or for 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

National Rugby League 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 ...

(NRL).

Background

Fifita is the son of former Tongan rugby star Pila Fifita. His second cousin, David Fifita, also plays for the Gold Coast Titans. At three years of age, Sosefo moved to Japan when his father agreed to play for

Munakata Sanix Blues , formerly ''Fukuoka Sanix Blues'' and ''Fukuoka Sanix Bombs'', was a Japanese rugby union team based in Munakata, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. Founded in April 1994 (Heisei 6), the team rose rapidly through the Kyūshū leagues and was in the Top ...

before the family moved to

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 ...

two years later. At 10 years of age, the Fifita family settled on the Gold Coast where Sosefo played junior rugby union for the Southport Eagles. Sosefo attended

The Southport School The Southport School (TSS) is an independent Anglican early learning, primary and secondary day and boarding school for boys, located in Southport, a suburb on the Gold Coast of Queensland, Australia. Established in 1901 by the Revd Horac ...

where played

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

in the prestigious

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based hyperbolic navigation system owned by the United States Space Force and operated by Mission Delta 31. It is one of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) that provide geol ...

competition and would score four tries in a single game with

Wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and som ...

Head Coach

Dave Rennie Dave Rennie (born 22 November 1963) is a New Zealand and Cook Islands professional rugby union coach and former player. He will take over the Kobe Steelers as head coach for the 2023–24 season. He previously was the head coach of the Austral ...

in attendance. Fifita is also a former U15 national junior sprint champion over 100 metres.

Playing career

2022

In June 2022, Fifita was selected for the

Queensland Maroons The Queensland rugby league team represents the Australian state of Queensland in rugby league football. Nicknamed the "Maroons" after the colour of their jersey, they play three times a year against arch-rivals New South Wales rugby league tea ...

U19s, starting at left centre in 32–4 loss to New South Wales Blues U19s. In round 18 of the

2022 NRL season The 2022 NRL season was the 115th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 25th season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 16th consecutive year. This became the second longest ...

, Fifita made his first grade debut for the Gold Coast against

, which the club lost 16–12.

2023

Fifita played a total of 14 matches for the Gold Coast in the

2023 NRL season The 2023 NRL season was the 116th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 26th season run by the National Rugby League. The season consisted of 27 competition rounds, the longest in league history, followed by a finals series ...

and scored three tries as the club finished 14th on the table.

2024

Fifita made 19 appearances for the Gold Coast throughout the

2024 NRL season The 2024 NRL season was the 117th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 27th season run by the National Rugby League (NRL). The season consisted of 27 competition rounds, followed by a finals series contested by the top eight ...

and scored ten tries as the club finished 14th on the table. On 26 November, it was announced that Fifita had re-signed until the end of the 2029 season.

Statistics

References

External links

Gold Coast Titans profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fifita, Sosefo 2003 births Sosefo Living people Gold Coast Titans players New Zealand Māori rugby league team players New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand sportspeople of Tongan descent Prime Minister's XIII players Rugby league players from Dunedin People educated at the Southport School 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen