Joe Galuvao (born 8 July 1978) is a former 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 played in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s in the NRL. 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 and Apolima); ...

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 second row forward, he played for the

Auckland 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 ...

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 ...

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian rugby league club based in Redfern, a suburb of inner-southern Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and are one of nine existing tea ...

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 ...

(with whom he won the 2003 NRL Premiership) and

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rugb ...

(with whom he won the 2011 NRL Premiership).

Background

Galuvao was born in

Auckland, New Zealand 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 I ...

Playing career

After starting his playing career in the late 1990s with the

, Galuvao was a member of the 2003 NRL premiership-winning Panthers team which defeated 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

2003 NRL grand final The 2003 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding match of the 2003 NRL season. In what was a contest of Sydney's east versus west, defending premiers the Sydney Roosters played against minor premiers the Penrith Panthers. The ...

. With fellow second-rower Tony Puletua, Galuvao was known as one of the "Hair Bears" and was rated one of the best second-rowers in the world in 2003. As 2003 NRL premiers, the Panthers travelled to England to face

Super League VIII Tetley's Super League VIII was the official name for the year 2003's Super League championship season, the 109th season of top-level professional rugby league held in Britain, and the eighth championship run by Super League. The season culminat ...

champions, the

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is predom ...

in the

2004 World Club Challenge The 2004 World Club Challenge was held on Friday, 13 February 2004, at the Alfred McAlpine Stadium, Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and larg ...

. Galuvao played at second-row forward in the Panthers' 22-4 loss. Galuvao joined South Sydney from 2006 on a three-year deal. Galuvao was released in September 2007 after a campaign to encourage him to retire, reportedly being told by Souths to swap "the paddock for the pulpit". Galuvao signed a two-year contract with Parramatta, keeping him with the Eels through the 2009 NRL season. In the 2008 NRL season, he only played in six NRL games for Parramatta. In 2009, however he matched that total in the first six games of the season. In August, 2009, Galuvao extended his playing career by signing a three-year deal with

. On October 4, 2009, Galuvao played for Parramatta in the

2009 NRL Grand Final The 2009 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the NRL's 2009 Telstra Premiership season. Played on 4 October 2009 at Sydney's ANZ Stadium was contested between the Parramatta Eels and the Melbourne Storm, the latte ...

defeat by Melbourne. In 2010, Melbourne were subsequently stripped of the premiership they won against Parramatta for major and deliberate breaches of the salary cap. Despite being concussed in a pre-season match, Galuvao made his debut for Manly against his old club Parramatta in round 2 of the

2010 NRL season The 2010 NRL season was the 103rd season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the thirteenth run by the National Rugby League. The season commenced on 12 March and ended with the Grand Final, played on 3 Octobe ...

. Galuvao won a second premiership as part of Manly's victorious

2011 NRL Grand Final The 2011 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the NRL's 2011 Telstra Premiership season. It was played between the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles and the New Zealand Warriors on the afternoon of Sunday, 2 October, and i ...

squad. He, along with

Shane Rodney Shane Rodney (born 15 August 1983) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. He played for the London Broncos of Super League. He previously played for the Penrith Panthers, winning the 2 ...

have played in the same premiership team twice, Rodney having been a teammate of Galuvao's in Penrith's victorious

2003 NRL Grand Final The 2003 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding match of the 2003 NRL season. In what was a contest of Sydney's east versus west, defending premiers the Sydney Roosters played against minor premiers the Penrith Panthers. The ...

squad. In 2013, after suffering a season-ending injury, Galuvao announced his retirement.Former Kiwi Galuvao at peace with NRL farewell
''stuff.co.nz'', 13 June 2013

Career highlights

* ''First Grade Debut:'' 1998 – Round 8, Auckland v

Aussie Stadium The Sydney Football Stadium, commercially known as Allianz Stadium and previously Aussie Stadium, was a football stadium in Moore Park, Sydney, Australia. Built in 1988 next to the Sydney Cricket Ground, the stadium was Sydney's premier recta ...

, 2 May * ''Representative Selection:'' 2003 – Australia vs New Zealand at Aussie Stadium, 25 July * ''Premierships:'' 2003 – member of the

Grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. S ...

winning Penrith Panthers, defeated Sydney Roosters, 18–6. Galuvao won a second premiership when Manly beat the New Zealand Warriors 24-10 in the

References

External links

Player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Galuvao, Joe 1978 births Living people Eastern Suburbs Tigers players Junior Kiwis players Manly Warringah Sea Eagles players Manurewa Marlins players New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand Warriors players Parramatta Eels players Penrith Panthers players People educated at James Cook High School Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Auckland Rugby league second-rows Samoa national rugby league team players South Sydney Rabbitohs players Wentworthville Magpies players