David Tangata-Toa (born 15 July 1981) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer and current assistant coach for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the National Rugby League (NRL). Primarily a , he played for the Hull Kingston Rovers and Celtic Crusaders in the

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 ...

Background

Born on the

Gold Coast, Queensland The Gold Coast is a coastal city in the state of Queensland, Australia, approximately south-southeast of the centre of the state capital Brisbane. With a population over 600,000, the Gold Coast is the sixth-largest city in Australia, the nati ...

, Tangata-Toa played junior rugby league for the Burleigh Bears and attended Palm Beach Currumbin State High School.

Playing career

A lower grader with the St George Illawarra Dragons and Cronulla Sharks, Tangata-Toa moved to England in 2005, joining the Hull Kingston Rovers in the

National League One National One (last season known as National League 1 and previously known before September 2009 as National Division Two), is the third of three national leagues in the domestic rugby union competition of England. It was known as Courage Leagu ...

. In 2006, he played in their National League One Grand Final winning side, helping them earn promotion to the

. In 2007, he played 17 Super League games for the club, scoring three tries. In 2008, Tangata-Toa joined the Celtic Crusaders, scoring a try in their

Grand Final loss to the

Salford City Reds 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 ...

. In 2009, he played 19 Super League games for the Crusaders, scoring four tries.

Coaching career

In 2011, Tangata-Toa became

captain-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

of the Windsor Wolves in the Bundaberg Red Cup. In 2012, he moved up to Windsor's New South Wales Cup side as an assistant coach. In 2013, Tangata-Toa joined the Penrith Panthers as an assistant coach to their

under-20 Junior is a category of athletics in which athletes compete under the age of 20 years. Countries all around the world compete in athletics. World Junior Athletics Competitions are held every two years which contain the best junior competitors in ...

side. In Round 7, Tangata-Toa replaced

Garth Brennan Garth Brennan (born 18 February 1972) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who was the head coach of the Gold Coast Titans in the NRL. He previously held coaching positions at the Newcastle Knights and the Penrith Panthers ...

, who moved up to the club's NSW Cup side, as the head coach. Brennan later returned to the role before the finals series began. From 2014 to 2016, he worked as an assistant coach to the Panthers' NSW Cup side. In 2016, he became the assistant coach of the Tongan national team under head coach

Kristian Woolf Kristian Woolf (born 6 July 1975) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who is the assistant coach of the Dolphins in the NRL and the head coach of Tonga at international level. He previously was the head coach of St Hele ...

. In 2017, he once again took charge of Penrith's under-20 side, leading them to the finals. In 2018, Tangata-Toa became head coach of the

Townsville Blackhawks The Townsville & Districts Blackhawks are an Australian semi-professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, Queensland. They compete in Queensland's top rugby league competition, the Queensland Cup. The club was admitted to the Que ...

side, where he led the side to the minor premiership and Grand Final. In 2019, he joined the North Queensland Cowboys as an assistant coach. On 21 September, Tangata-Toa joined the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs as a transition coach after two years with the Cowboys.

Personal life

Tangata-Toa's older brother, Andrew, is a former professional rugby league player.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tangata-Toa, David 1981 births Living people Australian sportspeople of Tongan descent Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league players Crusaders Rugby League players Hull Kingston Rovers players Rugby league players from the Gold Coast, Queensland Rugby league props Rugby league second-rows Windsor Wolves players