Ben Murdoch-Masila (born 7 February 1991) is a

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

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 11 ...

footballer who plays as a and for the

St George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George, Sydney, St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since NR ...

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 ...

. He played for the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional 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 joint-venture ...

and 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. Penrit ...

in the

National Rugby League 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

Salford Red Devils The Salford Red Devils are a professional rugby league club in Salford, Greater Manchester, England, who play in the Super League. Formed in 1873, they have won six Championships and one Challenge Cup. Their home ground since 2012 has been t ...

and the

Warrington Wolves The Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England, that competes in the Super League. They play rugby at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, having moved there from Wilderspool in 2004. Founded as Warrington ...

in the Super League.

Background

Murdoch-Masila was born in Otahuhu, New Zealand and is of Tongan descent.

Playing career

Murdoch-Masila played junior football with Otahuhu Black. He undertook a scholarship with Wests Tigers at Keebra Park High School and was a member of the team that won the 2009 Arrive Alive Cup. Murdoch-Masila weighed 150 kg when he arrived at Keebra Park, dropping 40 kg before he joined the Wests Tigers

NYC New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

team. Murdoch-Masila made his NRL debut in the first round of the 2010 NRL semi finals against the

Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won fifteen Ne ...

. He is one of very few players to have made his first appearance in a finals match. In 2011, Murdoch-Masila made a further seven appearances, and may have made more if not for injuries. At the end of the season he was selected for the

Junior Kiwis The Junior Kiwis side represents New Zealand in the sport of rugby league. They are commonly known as the Junior Kiwis, after the native bird of that name. Since 2010, they are an under-20s side, with players selected from the NRL, Intrust Super ...

. A regular on the bench in 2012, Murdoch-Masila played in 20 games for the season and scored five tries, including a double against

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

. He also signed an extension to stay with the club until the end of 2015, with coach

Tim Sheens Tim Sheens (born 30 October 1950) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach and former player. Head Coach of the Australia national team between 2009 and 2015, he has also been the head coach of National Rugby League (NRL) clubs ...

saying, "There is no doubt Ben has enormous talent and potential. He is a strike weapon and can become a top line player of the game with the right kind of commitment to his training regime." Missing only one game, Murdoch-Masila was one of the most regular first grade players for

in 2013. He started the season playing from the reserve bench, but started in the back row in the last five games of the season. In April, Murdoch-Masila made his international debut, playing in the

Pacific Rugby League International The Pacific Rugby League International is a rugby league test match that has been played between two Pacific Island nations during the National Rugby League's annual representative weekend since 2013. The fixture was held at Penrith Stadium for ...

for the Tongan side that thrashed

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 and Apolima); ...

36–4. He was chosen to represent Tonga in the 2013 World Cup, but a leg injury in his first hit-up of the tournament saw him take no further part. On 30 April 2014, Murdoch-Masila signed a -year contract effective immediately with the

, after being released from the final year and a half of his Wests Tigers contract. Murdoch-Masila was a cult hero at Warrington Wolves, and has his own terrace song; ”1,2,3,4 Party on, Ben Murdoch-Masila, Party on - he’s a Tongan hero, Party on, he never gives the ball away-ay”. He played in the

2018 Challenge Cup Final The 2018 Challenge Cup Final was the 117th cup-deciding game of the rugby league 2018 Challenge Cup Season. It was held at Wembley Stadium in London on 25 August 2018, kick off 15:00. The final was contested by Catalans Dragons and Warrington W ...

defeat by the

Catalans Dragons The Catalans Dragons (French: ''Dragons Catalans'', Catalan: ''Dracs Catalans'') are a professional rugby league club from Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales department, France. The team competes in the Super League and are the only team from outs ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...

. He played in the

2018 Super League Grand Final The 2018 Super League Grand Final was the 21st official Grand Final and championship-deciding game of Super League XXIII. It was held at Old Trafford in Manchester on 13 October 2018, kick off 18.00. The final was contested by Warrington Wolves ...

defeat by

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the north-east and Warrington t ...

at Old Trafford. He played in the 2019 Challenge Cup Final victory over St Helens at

. In round 1 of 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 ...

, he made his club debut 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 their 19-6 victory over the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

. He made a total of 11 appearances for the New Zealand club as they finished 15th on the table.

International career

On 2 May 2015, Murdoch-Masila played for Tonga in their Polynesian Cup clash with Pacific rivals Samoa. During the 2015 season, he did not play any NRL games for the Panthers and was not re-signed beyond 2015. On 17 October 2015, Murdoch-Masila played for Tonga in their Asia-Pacific Qualifier match against the

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

for the

2017 Rugby League World Cup The 2017 Rugby League World Cup was the fifteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup tournament and took place in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea between 27 October and 2 December 2017. The tournament featured the national teams ...

. He played in every match of Tonga's historic charge to the semi-finals of the

, and set up a vital try in their shock win over

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in the pool stage of the tournament.

References

External links

Warrington Wolves profileSL profile2017 RLWC profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murdoch-Masila, Ben 1991 births Living people Balmain Ryde-Eastwood Tigers players New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand sportspeople of Tongan descent Penrith Panthers players New Zealand Warriors players Junior Kiwis players Otahuhu Leopards players Rugby league players from Auckland Rugby league props Rugby league second-rows Rugby league locks People educated at Keebra Park State High School Tonga national rugby league team players Warrington Wolves players Wests Tigers players Wests Tigers NSW Cup players