Daniel Saifiti (born 1 May 1996) is a

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

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

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, th ...

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 has played for

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 ...

in the

State of Origin series The State of Origin series is an annual best-of-three rugby league series between two Australian state representative sides, the New South Wales Blues and the Queensland Maroons. Referred to as “Australian sport's greatest rivalry”, the ...

Background

Saifiti was born in

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle ( ; Awabakal: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas, and is the hub of the Greater Newcastle area, w ...

, Australia. He is of Fijian and Samoan descent and moved to the Central Coast at a young age. He played his junior rugby league for the

Terrigal Sharks The Terrigal Sharks are an Australian youth rugby league football club based in the suburbs of Terrigal and Wamberal on the Central Coast of NSW. They have numerous teams competing in competitions run by the Central Coast Division of Country Rugb ...

and

The Entrance Tigers The Entrance Tigers are a rugby league club based at The Entrance, New South Wales, Australia.They are competing in the 2022 Denton Engineering Cup (NSWRL Presidents Cup Northern Conference) & Central Coast Division Rugby League. They have prev ...

, before joining the

in 2015. Saifiti is the identical twin brother of Knights teammate

Jacob Saifiti Jacob Saifiti (born 1 May 1996) is a Fiji international rugby league footballer who plays as a forward for the Newcastle Knights in the NRL. Background Saifiti was born in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. He is of Fijian and Samoan ...

Playing career

2015

In 2015, Saifiti played for the Newcastle Knights'

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. On 2 May, he played for

against

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

, alongside his twin brother Jacob in the 2015 Melanesian Cup. During the year, he re-signed with the Newcastle club on a two-year contract.

2016

In round 1 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 ...

, Saifiti made his

debut for the Knights against the

Gold Coast Titans The Gold Coast Titans are a professional rugby league football club, based on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australia and New Zealand's national rugby league club competition. The ...

, playing alongside his brother Jacob, becoming the first twins in Australian rugby league's 108-year history to debut together. He scored a try on debut. On 7 May, he again played for Fiji against Papua New Guinea in the 2016 Melanesian Cup. On 12 May, he and his brother extended their contracts with the Knights from the end of 2017 until the end of 2018. In his 8th game of first-grade, he ran for a game-high 237 metres against 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 ...

. Saifiti finished his debut season with Newcastle making 20 appearances as the club finished last on the table.

2017

Saifiti played 23 games for the Knights in the 2017 season, before having his contract extended until the end of 2020. Newcastle would finish the year on the bottom of the table for a third straight season.

2018

Saifiti played 21 games for Newcastle in the 2018 NRL season as the club finished 11th on the table.

2019

Saifiti was selected in the starting side for Game 2 of the

2019 State of Origin series The 2019 State of Origin series was the 38th annual best-of-three series between the Queensland and New South Wales rugby league teams. Before this series, Queensland had won 21 times, NSW 14 times, with two series drawn. For just the second t ...

Saifiti was retained for Game 3 of the

which was won by New South Wales 26-20 at

ANZ Stadium ANZ may refer to: People * Anz (musician), a British DJ and electronic musician Banks * ANZ (bank), Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, the fourth-largest bank in Australia ** ANZ Bank New Zealand, the largest bank in New Zealand ...

. It was the first time since 2005 that New South Wales had won back to back series. At club level, he played 21 games for Newcastle as the club finished a disappointing 11th on the table after being expected by many to qualify for the finals.

2020

He was selected for New South Wales in the 2020 State of Origin series. He played in all three games as New South Wales suffered a 2-1 series defeat to Queensland.

2021

For round 1 of the 2021 NRL season, Saifiti was announced as a Knights co-captain alongside

Jayden Brailey Jayden Brailey (born 9 April 1996) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a hooker for the Newcastle Knights in the NRL. He previously played for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in the National Rugby League. Backg ...

. He was selected for game one of the 2021 State of Origin series. Saifiti scored his first try for New South Wales in game one as the Blues defeated Queensland 50-6. Saifiti played in the first two games during the series but was ruled out of the third due to injury. New South Wales went on to win the series 2-1.

2022

Safiti caused a shock when he ruled himself of World Cup selection for Fiji, citing covid and injury issues earlier in the year as the reason. Saifiti played 19 games for Newcastle in the 2022 NRL season as the club missed the finals finishing 14th on the table.

References

External links

Newcastle Knights profileNRL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saifiti, Daniel 1996 births Living people Australian people of Fijian descent Australian people of Samoan descent Australian rugby league players Fiji national rugby league team players New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players Newcastle Knights captains Newcastle Knights players Rugby league players from Newcastle, New South Wales Rugby league props