James Gavet (born 19 October 1989) 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 last played as a for the Huddersfield Giants 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 ...

. He previously played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, Wests Tigers, Brisbane Broncos,

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 ...

and the Newcastle Knights 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

Gavet was born in

Sydney, New South Wales Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountains ...

, Australia. He is of Samoan heritage. He is the brother-in-law of Oklahoma City Thunder basketball player

Steven Adams Steven Funaki Adams (born 20 July 1993) is a New Zealand professional basketball player for the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association (NBA). After playing one season with his hometown team, the Wellington Saints, in 2011, Ada ...

Playing career

Early career

Gavet moved to New Zealand at a young age and played his junior football for

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

club Ponsonby and the Richmond Bulldogs before being signed by the

. Gavet played for the Warriors NYC team in 2009, scoring 2 tries in 18 matches before moving on to the Warriors' NSW Cup reserve-grade team, the

Auckland Vulcans The Auckland Vulcans were an Auckland based rugby league club that participated in the New South Wales Cup. They were administered by the Rugby League Development Foundation. The team was selected from the Auckland Rugby League's Fox Memorial C ...

, in 2010. In 2011, Gavet was named Prop of the Year in NSW Cup and signed a 2-year contract with the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs after playing them in the 2011 NSW Cup Grand Final. Jamesgavet

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs

In round 23 of the

2012 NRL season The 2012 NRL season was the 105th season of professional rugby league club competition in Australia, and the first run by the newly formed Australian Rugby League Commission. The main competition, called the 2012 NRL Telstra Premiership due to spon ...

, Gavet made his

debut for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs against the Brisbane Broncos playing off the interchange bench in the club's 22-14 win at ANZ Stadium. Gavet played one match for Canterbury in the

. On 12 December 2012, Gavet signed a 1-year contract with the Wests Tigers starting in 2013.

Wests Tigers

Gavet missed most 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 ...

with a foot injury and failed to make a first grade appearance. On 14 February 2014, Gavet was selected in the Tigers inaugural

2014 Auckland Nines The 2014 NRL Auckland Nines (known as the Dick Smith NRL Auckland Nines due to sponsorship) was the first NRL Auckland Nines tournament, contested between all sixteen teams of the National Rugby League. The draw was released on 30 October 2014. ...

squad. In round 1 against the St George Illawarra Dragons, Gavet made his club debut for Wests off the interchange bench in the club's 44-24 loss at ANZ Stadium his first match in 574 days. In round 19 against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs at ANZ Stadium, Gavet scored his first

career try in the Tigers 46-18 win. Gavet finished off the Wests Tigers

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 Leagu ...

with him playing in 12 matches and scoring a try.

Brisbane Broncos

On 13 October 2014, Gavet was granted an immediate release from Wests to join the Brisbane Broncos on a two-year contract. Gavet was named in the Brisbane squad for the

2015 NRL Auckland Nines The 2015 NRL Auckland Nines (known as the Dick Smith NRL Auckland Nines due to sponsorship) was the second NRL Auckland Nines tournament, contested between all sixteen teams of the National Rugby League. The draw was released on 16 September 201 ...

. In his

debut game for the club, he was put on report late in the match for a shoulder charge and was served a three-game suspension. While serving the suspension, he ruptured his

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation ...

(ACL) at training, ruling him out for the rest of the season. On 20 October 2015, he was granted release from the final year of his Broncos contract.

New Zealand Warriors

In January 2016, Gavet returned to the

on a trial basis, before signing a 1-year contract starting effective immediately on 22 February. Gavet was named in the Warriors squad for the

2017 NRL Auckland Nines The 2017 NRL Auckland Nines (known as the Downer NRL Auckland Nines due to sponsorship) was the fourth NRL Auckland Nines competition. It was held on 4–5 February 2017 at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand. Just like previous tournaments, it w ...

Samoa

On 8 September 2014, Gavet was named in the

train-on squad for the 2014 Four Nations, but didn’t make the final 24 man squad. On 8 October 2016, he made his international debut for

in their historical test match against Fiji in Apia.

Boxing

In 2022, Isaac Peach trained Gavet out of Peach Boxing for a celebrity corporate charity boxing fight against

Liam Messam Liam Justin Messam (born 25 March 1984) is a New Zealand rugby union player who plays TOP14 for RC Toulonnais. In Super Rugby, he previously played for the , and for Waikato in the ITM Cup. Messam predominantly plays as a blindside flanker b ...

at 2022 Fight for life.

References

External links

Newcastle Knights profileNew Zealand Warriors profileNRL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gavet, James 1989 births Living people Auckland rugby league team players Brisbane Broncos players Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players Huddersfield Giants players New Zealand people of French Polynesian descent Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Australian people of New Zealand descent New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand Warriors players Newcastle Knights players People educated at Kelston Boys' High School Richmond Bulldogs players Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby league props Rugby league second-rows Samoa national rugby league team players Samoan rugby league players Samoan sportspeople Wests Tigers NSW Cup players Wests Tigers players Boxers trained by Isaac Peach