Sylvester Namo (born 26 August 2000) is a Papua New Guinean 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 forward for the Brisbane Tigers 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 ...

. He represents

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 ...

at international level and played at the

2021 Rugby League World Cup The 2021 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC2021) was a collection of world cups in the sport of rugby league, held in England from 15 October to 19 November 2022. England won hosting rights for the competition on 27 October 2016. The bid received � ...

. He has previously played for the PNG Hunters and Townsville Blackhawks in the

. He has spent time on dual registration from Castleford at

Newcastle Thunder The Newcastle Thunder is a professional rugby league club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It was founded in 2000 as Gateshead Thunder, after the merger of the original Gateshead Thunder into Hull F.C. in 1999. The Thunder were based in ...

in League 1.

Background

Born in Goroka,

, Namo began playing rugby league for the KK Brothers Vikings in 2019 at Mt. Hagen where he was raised.

Playing career

Lae Snax Tigers

In 2020, Namo made his debut for the Lae Snax Tigers in the Digicel Cup, scoring a try in their Grand Final loss to the Hela Wigmen.

PNG Hunters

In 2021, Namo joined the PNG Hunters, playing 13 games for the club in the

. In 2022, he played 16 games, starting all 16 at prop.

North Queensland Cowboys

In November 2022, Namo joined the

North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest city in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). Sinc ...

on a train and replacement contract for the 2023 season.

Castleford Tigers

On 1 October 2023, it was announced that Namo would join 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 ...

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 ...

on a two-year contract from

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

. He made his debut on 8 March against

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 ...

, with coach Craig Lingard managing his minutes as he returned from an ACL injury. In April, Namo was given a five-match ban for dangerous contact 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 ...

, with Castleford unsuccessful in their appeal against the ruling. He made his return to the team on 24 May against

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 ...

, earning praise from Lingard for an impactful performance. On 23 April 2025, Castleford announced that Namo had left the club with immediate effect.

Brisbane Tigers

On 5 May 2025 it was reported that he had joined the Brisbane Tigers in the

International

On 25 June 2022, he made his international debut for

in their 24-14 victory over

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 ...

in the 2022 Pacific Test. In October 2022, he represented Papua New Guinea at the

, playing three games.

References

External links

PNG Hunters profileCastleford Tigers profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Namo, Sylvester 2000 births Living people 21st-century Papua New Guinean sportsmen category:Brisbane Tigers players Castleford Tigers players Lae Snax Tigers players Newcastle Thunder players Papua New Guinea Hunters players Papua New Guinea national rugby league team players Papua New Guinean rugby league players PNG Prime Minister's XIII players Rugby league props Rugby league players from the Eastern Highlands Province Townsville Blackhawks players