Taniela Paseka (born 8 October 1997) 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 plays as a for the

Manly Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Manly club debuted in the 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League seaso ...

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

Paseka was born in

Ōtāhuhu Ōtāhuhu is a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand – to the southeast of the CBD, on a narrow isthmus between an arm of the Manukau Harbour to the west and the Tāmaki River estuary to the east. The Auckland isthmus is the narrowest connect ...

, New Zealand and is of Tongan descent. Although born in New Zealand, Paseka has chosen to play rugby league for

at international level. He played his junior rugby league for All Saints Liverpool junior and attended

Patrician Brothers' College, Fairfield Patrician Brothers' College, Fairfield (abbreviated as PBCF) is an independent Roman Catholic comprehensive single-sex secondary day school for boys, located in Fairfield, a western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Founded ...

and Mount Carmel Catholic College.

Playing career

Early career

Paseka played in the Under 20s for the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers is an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West of Sydney and South Western Sydney. The Tigers have competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since being formed at the end of the 1999 N ...

before joining Manly for the 2018 season, he also appeared in a Musashi ad.

2018

In round 6 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 ...

, Paseka made his Manly début in the

against the

. Paseka played a total of 13 games for Manly in 2018 as the club endured one of their worst seasons on the field finishing 15th on the table and narrowly avoiding the wooden spoon.

2019

Paseka made 13 appearances for Manly 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 finished sixth on the table. Paseka missed out on playing in the club's finals campaign with a knee injury he sustained in round 25 against Parramatta.

2020

Paseka played 18 games for Manly-Warringah in the

2020 NRL season The 2020 NRL season was the 113th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 23rd season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 14th consecutive year. ; Notes : : : Pre-season ...

as they finished a disappointing 13th on the table.

2021

Paseka played 24 games for Manly in the

2021 NRL season The 2021 NRL season was the 114th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 24th season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 15th consecutive year. Regular season Ladd ...

including the club's preliminary final loss against South Sydney.

2022

Paseka made 11 appearances for Manly in 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 ...

. The club would finish 11th on the table and miss out on the finals.

2023

On 25 July, it was announced that Paseka would miss the remainder of 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 ...

with a medial ligament injury which he suffered during Manly's 30-26 victory over

Cronulla Cronulla is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Boasting numerous surf beaches and swimming spots, the suburb attracts both tourists and Greater Sydney residents. Cronulla is 26 kilometres south of the Sydney central ...

in the battle of the beaches game.

2024

On 5 August, Paseka re-signed with the club until the end of the 2029 season. Paseka played 23 matches for Manly in 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 ...

as they finished 7th on the table and qualified for the finals. Manly would be eliminated in the second week of the finals by the Sydney Roosters. On 8 October, Paseka got a long awaited international selection when he was named in the 21 man Tongan squad for the 2024 Pacific Championships. Paseka will join Manly team mates

Haumole Olakau'atu Haumole Olakau'atu (born 1 October 1998) is a Tonga national rugby league team, Tonga international rugby league footballer who plays as a forward for the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in the National Rugby League (NRL). Background Olakau'atu wa ...

, Tolu Koula and 19 year old rookie

Lehi Hopoate Lehi Hopoate (born 26 January 2005) is a Tonga international rugby league footballer who plays as a er or for the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles in the National Rugby League. Background Hopoate is of Tongan descent through his father John Hopoate ...

in the team.

2025

Paseka would be ruled out for the rest of the season after suffering a ruptured Achilles during Manly's win against the Raiders in round 3.

Statistics

References

External links

Manly Sea Eagles profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paseka, Taniela 1997 births Living people 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen Manly Warringah Sea Eagles players New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand sportspeople of Tongan descent People educated at Patrician Brothers' College, Fairfield Rugby league players from Auckland Rugby league props