Albert Hopoate (born 25 February 2001) is an Australian professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who plays as a and for the Canberra Raiders in the National Rugby League (NRL). He previously played for the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles in the NRL.

Background

Hopoate is of Tongan descent through his father John Hopoate who was an Australian, Tongan and

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

State of Origin representative. His elder brothers

William Hopoate William Hopoate (born 9 May 1992), also known as Viliami in Tongan, also known by the nickname of "Hoppa", is a Tonga international rugby league footballer who plays as a and on the for the St Helens in the Super League. He played for the ...

and

Jamil Hopoate Jamil Hopoate (born 8 November 1994) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer and convicted criminal who last played as a and for the Brisbane Broncos in the National Rugby League (NRL). Background He was born and raised ...

also play rugby league professionally, for St. Helens and Brisbane Broncos respectively. Albert played his junior rugby league for the Beacon Hill Bears, before being signed by the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles.

Playing career

Early years

Hopoate rose through the grades at the Manly-Warringah club, playing for their

Harold Matthews Cup The NSWRL Harold Matthews Cup is a junior rugby league competition played in New South Wales between teams made up of players aged under 16. The competition is administered by the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL). The competition is made up o ...

and

S. G. Ball Cup The S. G. Ball Cup is a junior rugby league football competition played predominantly in New South Wales, between teams made up of players aged under 19. Teams from Canberra and Melbourne (Victoria Thunderbolts) also participate. Prior to the C ...

sides, also appearing for the New South Wales under-16s side in 2017. He also played for the

Australian Schoolboys rugby union team The Australian Schoolboys & U18 rugby union team is the national team for schoolboy rugby union & U18 players in Australia. Considered to be the pinnacle of schoolboy & U18 rugby in Australia, the team plays in fixtures against other national r ...

, New South Wales National Youth rugby sevens and Australian World Schools rugby sevens teams in 2017.

2020

In August, Manly agreed to loan Hopoate to the

New Zealand Warriors The New Zealand 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 ...

for four games. A week later, the deal was canceled after Manly required Hopoate due to an injury to centre

Moses Suli Mosese "Moses" Suli (born 9 June 1998) is a Tonga international rugby league player who plays as a and er for the St. George Illawarra Dragons in the NRL. Suli previously played for the Wests Tigers, was signed by the Canterbury-Bankstown ...

. Hopoate made his

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

debut for Manly-Warringah in round 16 of 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 ...

, a 6–30 loss to the Melbourne Storm. In December, Hopoate signed a one-year contract with the Canberra Raiders starting in 2021.

2022

In round 18 against the Melbourne Storm Hopoate played his first game for the capital club, and the following week against the

he scored his first try as a Canberra Raiders player. Hopoate played seven matches and scored three tries in the

2022 NRL season The 2022 NRL season is 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 s ...

. Hopoate did not play in either of Canberra's finals games.

2023

In round 13, Hopoate scored his first NRL

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in Canberra's 33-26 victory over South Sydney at Accor Stadium. Hopoate played a total of 20 matches for Canberra in the

2023 NRL season The 2023 NRL season is the 116th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 26th season run by the National Rugby League. Teams For the 2023 season, the number of teams in the NRL has increased from sixteen to seventeen with the ...

as the club finished 8th on the table and qualified for the finals.

Statistics

References

External links

Canberra Raiders profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hopoate, Albert 2001 births Living people Australian sportspeople of Tongan descent Australian rugby league players

Albert Albert may refer to: Companies * Albert (supermarket), a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic * Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands * Albert Market, a street market in The Gambia * Albert Productions, a record label * Albert ...

Manly Warringah Sea Eagles players Canberra Raiders players Rugby league centres Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby league wingers