Iulio "Bunty" Afoa (born 20 August 1996) is a

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 ...

international

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 for 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 ...

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 ...

Background

Afoa was born in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, New Zealand, and is of Samoan descent and attended St Paul's College. He played his junior rugby league for the Point Chevalier Pirates, before being signed by the

Playing career

Early career

From 2014 to 2016, Afoa Loni Lolohea played for the New Zealand Warriors' NYC team. In May 2015, he was selected as 18th man for the Junior Kiwis side to play the Junior Kangaroos. Afoa played in his 50th Holden Cup match in 2015 and was named the Junior Warriors player of the year at the end of the season.Ben Matulino wins Warriors' player of year award for second time
''stuff.co.nz'', 15 September 2015

2016

On 23 June, Afoa re-signed with the Warriors on a three-year contract until the end of 2019. In Round 17 of the

2016 NRL season The 2016 NRL season was the 109th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 19th season run by the National Rugby League. The season started in New Zealand with the annual Auckland Nines, and was followed by the All Stars Match, w ...

, he made his

debut for the Warriors against the Gold Coast Titans. On 8 October, he made his international debut for

in their historical test match against Fiji in Apia.

2017

In the

2017 NRL season The 2017 NRL season was the 110th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 20th season run by the National Rugby League. The season started in New Zealand with the annual Auckland Nines, and was followed by the All Stars Match, w ...

, Afoa made 17 appearances as the club finished a disappointing 13th on the table.

2018

Afoa made 23 appearances for New Zealand in 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 ...

as the club qualified for the finals for the first time since 2011. Afoa played in the club's elimination final loss to Penrith.

2019

Afoa played 20 games for New Zealand 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 missed out on the finals.

2020

On 18 February, Afoa was ruled out for the entire

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 ...

after suffering an ACL injury at pre-season training.

2021

On 10 June, the

announced that Afoa had signed a new two-year contract.

2022

In round 13 of 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 ...

, Afoa was sent to the sin bin for a professional foul and later scored a try in New Zealand's 44-12 loss against Manly. Afoa made a total of 24 appearances for the New Zealand club as they finished 15th on the table.

References

External links

New Zealand Warriors profileNRL profile2017 RWLC profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Afoa, Bunty 1996 births Living people New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent New Zealand Warriors players Point Chevalier Pirates players Rugby league props Rugby league second-rows People educated at St Paul's College, Auckland Samoa national rugby league team players Rugby league players from Auckland