Ava Seumanufagai (born 3 June 1991) is a New Zealand 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 currently plays for

Leigh Leopards The Leigh Leopards are a professional rugby league club based in Leigh, Greater Manchester, England, who compete in the Betfred Super League. The club was founded in 1878, and is one of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern Ru ...

in the

Betfred Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

. He previously played for the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional Rugby league, rugby league football team, based in the Inner West and South West Sydney. They have competed in the National Rugby League since being formed at the end of the 1999 NRL season as a j ...

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

and

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilita ...

in the

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 ...

and the

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club was formed in 1870 as Leeds St John's and play in the Super League, the top tier of English rugby league. They have played home matches at Headi ...

in the

European Super League The European Super League (ESL), officially The Super League, was a proposed seasonal club football competition that initially would have been contested by twenty European football clubs, twelve of them being the competition's founding members. ...

Background

Seumanufagai was born in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, New Zealand and is of

Tokelau Tokelau (; ; known previously as the Union Islands, and, until 1976, known officially as the Tokelau Islands) is a dependent territory of New Zealand in the southern Pacific Ocean. It consists of three tropical coral atolls: Atafu, Nukunonu, a ...

and Samoan descent. He played his junior football for the

Wainuiomata Lions The Wainuiomata Lions are a New Zealand rugby league club based in Wainuiomata, Wellington. They compete in the Wellington Rugby League competition. In the early 1990s, prior to the creation Lion Red Cup national league competition based on ...

and the

Hills District Bulls The Hills District Bulls is a Parramatta District junior rugby league football club which play in at Crestwood Oval. They have played in the Parramatta District since 1964. They field teams in all age groups including C-Grade, A-Grade, Sydney ...

before being signed by the

Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and their ...

Playing career

Early career

Seumanufagai played for the Parramatta Eels

NYC New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Uni ...

team in 2010 and 2011, scoring 2 tries in 43 games. In 2012, Seumanufagai joined the

. Seumanufagai spent his first season playing

NSW Cup 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 ...

, and was a member of the Balmain Ryde Eastwood Tigers side that lost the NSW Cup grand final to the

Newtown Jets The Newtown Jets are an Australian rugby league football club based in Newtown, a suburb of Sydney's inner west. They currently compete in the NSW Cup competition, having left the top grade after the 1983 NSWRFL season. The Jets' home ground ...

2013

In Round 3, Seumanufagai made his

debut for the Wests Tigers against his former club, the Parramatta Eels in the Tigers 31–18 win at Leichhardt Oval. In Round 13 against the

Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith that competes in the NRL. The team is based west of the centre of Sydney, at the foot of the Blue Mountains. Penrith ...

, Seumanufagai scored his first NRL try in the Tigers 20–18 win at

Penrith Stadium Penrith Stadium (known commercially as BlueBet Stadium) is a rugby league and association football stadium located in Penrith, New South Wales, Australia. The 22,500 capacity venue is the home ground for the Penrith Panthers who play in the N ...

. It was his sole try from 17 matches for the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

2014

On 30 July, Seumanufagai re-signed with the Tigers on a one-year contract. Coach

Mick Potter Michael Potter (born 24 September 1963) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who is the interim head coach of the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the National Rugby League, and a former professional rugby league football ...

said, "Ava has steadily improved as the year has gone on. The players love it when Ava comes on the field, he gives us that lift and really deserves what he is getting." He finished the

year A year or annus is the orbital period of a planetary body, for example, the Earth, moving in its orbit around the Sun. Due to the Earth's axial tilt, the course of a year sees the passing of the seasons, marked by change in weather, the hou ...

having played in 23 matches. He was also named in the

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

train-on squad for the Four Nations, but didn't make the final 24 man squad.

2015

On 31 January and 1 February, Seumanufagai played for the Tigers in the

2015 NRL Auckland Nines The 2015 NRL Auckland Nines (known as the Dick Smith NRL Auckland Nines due to sponsorship) was the second NRL Auckland Nines tournament, contested between all sixteen teams of the National Rugby League. The draw was released on 16 September 201 ...

. He made 23 appearances in the

2015 NRL season The 2015 NRL season was the 108th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 18th season of the National Rugby League in Australia and New Zealand. The season started in New Zealand with the annual Auckland Nines, which was followed ...

, all from the interchange bench as well as scoring 1 try for the Tigers. He was named as a reserve in Zero Tackle's Team of the Year. On 30 September, he re-signed with the Tigers for a further two seasons. Coach Jason Taylor said, "Ava is a tireless worker and a real asset to have on our playing roster. He's only 24 years old, so I'm confident that his best football is still ahead of him and that's really exciting for the club."

2016

In the pre-season, Seumanufagai again played in the

Auckland Nines The NRL Nines is a rugby league nines competition, normally held during the NRL preseason each year. It was initially held in Auckland, New Zealand, between 2014 and 2017 before going on hiatus. Returning in 2020, hosting duties moved to Perth ...

. He was one of just two Wests Tigers player to appear in every game of the season. Seumanufagai said that he felt his personal game had improved for the season, and was a step in the right direction.

2017

Seumanufagai again played in the

. On 2 May, he signed a two-year contract with the

, starting in 2018. In Round 10 against the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian 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 pla ...

, Seumanufagai was sinbinned for punching former Tigers teammate

Robbie Farah Robert Peter Farah ( ar, روبي فرح) (born 23 January 1984) is a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. An Australian international, Lebanese international and captain of New South Wales Blues te ...

in the head. In Round 15 against his future club Cronulla, Seumanufagai played his 100th NRL match in the Tigers 24–22 loss at

Shark Park Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a Chondrichthyes#Skeleton, cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified with ...

. Seumanufagai finished his last season with the Tigers with 2 tries from 18 matches.

2018

In Round 1 of the 2018 NRL season, Seumanufagai made his club debut for the

against the

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

, playing off the interchange bench in the 20–14 loss at

1300SMILES Stadium The Willows Sports Complex, currently known as 1300SMILES Stadium through Naming rights, sponsorship, is a grass football stadium situated in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. It has been a predominantly rugby league ground as the home ground o ...

. Seumanufagai played for Cronulla's feeder club side Newtown in the 2018

Intrust Super Premiership NSW 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 reserv ...

grand final against

Canterbury-Bankstown Canterbury-Bankstown is a customary region of Sydney, Australia, in the south-western suburbs. The area is located around the Bankstown railway line, to the west of the St George region and to the south of the Inner West region. The suburbs o ...

Leichhardt Oval Leichhardt Oval is a rugby league and soccer stadium in Lilyfield, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently one of three home grounds for the Wests Tigers National Rugby League (NRL) team, along with Campbelltown Stadium and Western Sydney S ...

which Newtown lost 18–12.

2019

Seumanufagai joined

on a two-year deal in May 2019. In his first season he made 13 appearances for the Rhinos scoring one try after making his debut in

David Furner David Furner (born 6 February 1971) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who was the head coach of the Leeds Rhinos, and a former player. He is the former assistant coach for the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the NRL, and the ...

's last match in charge – a defeat to Salford on 3 May.

2020

During the disrupted 2020 season Seumanufagai made a further 17 appearances scoring three tries. He played in the

Challenge Cup Final The Challenge Cup of Rugby league was instituted in the 1896–97 Northern Rugby Football Union season, 1896–97 and the final was contested between Batley Bulldogs, Batley and St Helens R.F.C., St. Helens at Headingley Rugby Stadium, Headingley, ...

where Leeds triumphed 17–16 over Salford. On 27 December 2020 the club announced that they were releasing Seumanufagai from the final year of his contract due to "family reasons" as the travel restrictions in place were preventing him from seeing his young daughter.

2021

He made a total of 16 appearances for Canterbury 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 ...

as the club finished last and claimed the

Wooden Spoon Wooden Spoon may refer to: * Wooden spoon, implement * Wooden spoon (award) ** Australian rugby league wooden spooners ** County Championship Wooden Spoons ** List of Australian Football League wooden spoons ** MLS Wooden Spoon * Wooden Spoon Soci ...

2022

Seumanufagai played a total of seven matches for Canterbury 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 ...

as the club finished 12th on the table.

2023

In January, Seumanufagai signed a one-year deal to join the newly promoted

Leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan ** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency) * Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Pronounced : * Leigh, Dorset * Leigh, Gloucestershire * Leigh, Kent * Leigh, Staf ...

side.

References

External links

Leeds Rhinos profileCronulla Sharks profileSL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seumanufagai, Ava 1991 births Living people Balmain Ryde-Eastwood Tigers players Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks players Leeds Rhinos players Leigh Leopards players New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Australia New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent New Zealand people of Tokelauan descent Newtown Jets NSW Cup players Rugby league players from Wellington City Rugby league props Wainuiomata Lions players Wests Tigers players Wests Tigers NSW Cup players New Zealand expatriate rugby league players Expatriate rugby league players in Australia Expatriate rugby league players in England