Isaac Liu (born 26 April 1991) is a 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 11 ...

footballer who plays as a and forward for 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 ...

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 ...

(NRL). He is both a Samoan and

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 ...

international. He has previously played for 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 ...

in the

and won back-to-back NRL premierships with that club in 2018 and 2019.

Background

Liu was born in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

, New Zealand and is of

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); ...

n and

Niue Niue (, ; niu, Niuē) is an island country in the South Pacific Ocean, northeast of New Zealand. Niue's land area is about and its population, predominantly Polynesian, was about 1,600 in 2016. Niue is located in a triangle between Tong ...

an heritage. He played his junior football for the

Otahuhu Leopards The Otahuhu Leopards are a rugby league club based in Otahuhu, Auckland. Founded in 1911, the club has produced 49 New Zealand national rugby league team players. The club competes in the Fox Memorial competition run by Auckland Rugby Leagu ...

before moving to Australia as a teen and attending Keebra Park State High School on the Gold Coast, Queensland. He is of Samoan and Niuean descent. In 2011, Liu signed with the

. He played for the Roosters'

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 in 2011, scoring 2 tries in 19 games.

Playing career

In round 4 of the

2013 NRL season The 2013 NRL season was the 106th season of professional rugby league club competition in Australia. The National Rugby League's main competition, named the 2013 Telstra Premiership after major sponsors Telstra Corporation, was contested by sixte ...

Liu made his NRL debut for the Roosters against 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 ...

in a 50-0 victory at the Sydney Football Stadium. Liu made 15 appearances for the club in his debut season including the 40-14 preliminary final victory over

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

but he missed out on selection in the

2013 NRL Grand Final The 2013 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2013 NRL season. Played on Sunday, 6 October at Sydney's ANZ Stadium between the minor premiers Sydney Roosters and the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles. The Roosters won ...

side which defeated Manly-Warringah. In May 2014, Liu played for

in the 2014 Pacific Rugby League International. He made headlines in the match after taking a massive shot by Fijian player

Korbin Sims Korbin Sims (born 2 January 1992) is a Fiji international rugby league footballer who last played as a and forward for Hull Kingston Rovers in the Super League. He previously played for the Newcastle Knights, Brisbane Broncos and the St. G ...

. Liu made 23 appearances for Easts in the

2014 NRL season The 2014 NRL season was the 107th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 17th season of the National Rugby League in Australia and New Zealand. The season started in New Zealand, for the Auckland Nines, replacing the Rugby Lea ...

as the club won the minor premiership. Liu played in the club's preliminary final defeat by South Sydney which ended their premiership defence. On 7 October 2014, Liu was selected in the Samoan 24 man squad for the 2014 Four Nations series. On 2 May 2015, Liu played for Samoa in the Polynesian Cup against Tonga. 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 ...

, Liu made 26 appearances as the Sydney Roosters won their third consecutive minor premiership. Liu played in the club's preliminary final loss against Brisbane at

Suncorp Stadium Lang Park, also known as Brisbane Football Stadium, by the sponsored name Suncorp Stadium, and nicknamed: 'The Cauldron', is a multi-purpose stadium in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, located in the suburb of Milton. The current facility co ...

. On 21 July 2017, Liu played his 100th First grade game against Newcastle, in this game he scored a try as the Roosters won the match 28-4 at the Sydney Football Stadium. Liu made a total of 22 appearances for Easts 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 ...

as the club finished 2nd on the table and reached the preliminary final before suffering a shock defeat by North Queensland. On 5 October 2017, Liu was named in New Zealand Rugby League world cup squad. Liu made 26 appearances for Easts 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 they won the minor premiership and reached the

2018 NRL Grand Final The 2018 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2018 National Rugby League season and was played on Sunday September 30 at Sydney's ANZ Stadium. The match was contested between minor premiers the Sydney Rooste ...

against Melbourne. Liu played from the bench as Easts defeated Melbourne 21-6 claiming their 14th premiership. Liu made 24 appearances for the

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 reached the

2019 NRL Grand Final The 2019 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2019 National Rugby League season and was played at Sydney's ANZ Stadium. The match was contested between defending premiers the Sydney Roosters and the Canberra Ra ...

against Canberra. The club would go on to win 14-8 with Liu starting at prop. It was the club's second consecutive premiership victory and Liu's second as a player. Liu played 19 games for the

in the

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-seaso ...

. The club reached the finals but were eliminated by Canberra at the Sydney Cricket Ground. On 7 July 2021, Liu signed a contract to join 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 ...

for the start of the 2022 season. Liu played 26 games for the

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 reached the finals but were eliminated in the second week by Manly. Liu played a total of 23 games for the Gold Coast 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 13th on the table.

References

External links

Sydney Roosters profileRoosters profile2017 RLWC profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Liu, Isaac 1991 births New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand people of Niuean descent New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent Rugby league players from Auckland Samoa national rugby league team players Sydney Roosters players Gold Coast Titans players Newtown Jets NSW Cup players Otahuhu Leopards players Rugby league locks Rugby league props Rugby league second-rows People educated at Keebra Park State High School Living people New Zealand national rugby league team players