Marata Niukore (born 29 July 1996) is a professional rugby league footballer who plays as a and for the New Zealand Warriors in the National Rugby League (NRL). He has played for both the Cook Islands and New Zealand at international level. He previously played for the Parramatta Eels in the NRL.

Background

Niukore was born in Auckland, New Zealand.

Career

2018

He started his career with the New Zealand Warriors Under 20s before being signed by the Parramatta Eels until the end of 2018 and playing for Wentworthville Magpies in the NSW Cup. Niukore made a total of 40 appearances for Wentworthville over 2 seasons. He represented the Cook Islands against Papua New Guinea in 2017. In round 11 of 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 ...

, Niukore made his

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 ...

debut for Parramatta against the New Zealand Warriors. Niukore ended the

for Parramatta with 14 appearances for the club.

2019

In round 1 of 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 ...

, Niukore started at second-row for Parramatta scoring his first

try against the Penrith Panthers in a 20–12 win. On November 4 2019, it was announced that Niukore had signed a three-year deal to remain at Parramatta until the end of the 2022 season.

2020

He made a total of 17 appearances for Parramatta 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-season ...

as the club finished third but were eliminated from the finals in straight sets.

2021

At the start of 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 ...

, Niukore replaced the injured

Waqa Blake Waqa Blake (born 26 October 1994) is a Fijian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a and for the Parramatta Eels in the NRL and Fiji at international level. He previously played for the Penrith Panthers in the National Rugby Lea ...

at centre. In round 9 of the

, he was placed on report for a high tackle on Sydney Roosters player James Tedesco and was later suspended for two matches. In round 22, Niukore was sent to the sin bin during Parramatta's 56–10 loss against Manly. Niukore made a total of 21 games for Parramatta and played in both of the club's finals matches against Newcastle and Penrith. Parramatta were eliminated by Penrith at the semi-final stage in a tough 8–6 loss. On 11 November, Niukore signed with the New Zealand Warriors on a four-year $2.6 million starting in 2023, until the end of 2026.

2022

In the second week of the 2022 finals series, Niukore scored two tries for Parramatta in a 40-4 victory over

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

. Niukore played 19 games for Parramatta 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 ...

including the club's Grand Final loss to Penrith.

2023

In round 5 of the

2023 NRL season The 2023 NRL season is the 116th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 26th season run by the National Rugby League. Teams For the 2023 season, the number of teams in the NRL has increased from sixteen to seventeen with the ...

, Niukore scored a try and was later sin binned during New Zealand's 32-30 comeback victory against Cronulla. Niukore played 22 games for the New Zealand Warriors in the 2023 NRL season as the club finished 4th on the table and qualified for the finals. He played in all three finals games as the club reached the preliminary final before being defeated by Brisbane.

Statistics

*Denotes season competing

References

External links

Parramatta Eels profile
1996 births Living people Cook Islands national rugby league team players Cook Island rugby league players New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand sportspeople of Cook Island descent Parramatta Eels players New Zealand Warriors players Wentworthville Magpies players Rugby league players from Auckland Rugby league second-rows {{NewZealand-rugbyleague-bio-stub