Mason Lino (born 4 February 1994) is a Samoan 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 112 ...

footballer who plays as a and for

Wakefield Trinity Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, that plays in the Super League. One of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895, between 1999 and 2016 the c ...

in the Betfred Super League and

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 ...

at the international level. He previously played for the

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

Lino was born in

Apia Apia () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Samoa, as well as the nation's only city. It is located on the central north coast of Upolu, Samoa's second-largest island. Apia falls within the political district (''itūmālō ...

Early years

Lino was a

Marist Saints The Marist Saints is a rugby league club based in Mount Albert, New Zealand. They currently compete in the top grade in Auckland Rugby League, the Fox Memorial Premiership. History Founded in 1919, the Marist club first won the Fox Memorial in 1 ...

junior and attended

Avondale College Avondale College is a state coeducational secondary school located in the central Auckland, New Zealand, suburb of Avondale. With a roll of students from Years 9–13 (ages 12–18), it is the third largest secondary school in New Zealand. ...

.Mason Lino
''warriors.kiwi'' Lino is of Samoan and

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

descent.

Playing career

2012

Lino trialled for the New Zealand Warriors' NYC squad in 2012, earning a place in the squad. He finished the season as the team's top points-scorer with 144 points in 23 games. He attended an

rookie camp on the 24 and 25 November 2012.

2013

Lino scored 147 points for the Junior Warriors in 2013, taking his total to 281 from 41 appearances. The side lost the 2013 Holden Cup Grand Final 30-42. He also played for the Junior Kiwis in their 26-38 defeat by the Junior Kangaroos on 13 October 2013. He was named in the Samoan train-on squad for the

2013 Rugby League World Cup The 2013 Rugby League World Cup was the fourteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup and took place in England, Wales, France and Ireland. between 26 October and 30 November 2013. It was the main event of the year's 2013 Festival of World ...

. He did not make the squad after the cut to 25 players.

2014

In 2014, he co-captained the Junior Warriors

Holden Cup The NRL Under-20s (known commercially as the Holden Cup due to sponsorship from Holden) was the top league of professional rugby league for players aged 20 years or younger in Australasia. Contested by sixteen teams, the Under-20s competition co ...

team in their 34-32 grand final victory over the Brisbane Broncos, kicking five conversions out of six and finishing the match on the pitch despite suffering a partial shoulder dislocation. He finished his Holden Cup career with 503 points from 62 appearances, becoming the third most-capped Junior Warrior behind Ben Henry and

John Palavi John Palavi is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who plays for the Tweed Heads Seagulls in the Queensland Cup. He previously played for the New Zealand Warriors in the NRL and the Limoux Grizzlies in the Elite One Champion ...

.Late Mail:Lino to Make NRL Debut
''warriors.kiwi'' Mason Lino

2015

Lino had signed with

AS Carcassonne Association Sportive of Carcassonne are a semi-professional rugby league football club based in Carcassonne in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie in the south of France. They play in the French Elite One Championship and a ...

for the 2015 season, but the contract was cancelled after his shoulder dislocation in the 2014 Holden Cup grand final. Instead, Lino re-signed with the Warriors, for 2015, to play in their New South Wales Cup squad. He made his NRL debut on 22 August 2015 against the North Queensland Cowboys, replacing an injured Chad Townsend.

2016

On 8 October, Lino made his international debut for

in their test match against Fiji in Apia.

2017

Lino played for the Warriors in 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 ...

. In June, Lino signed a further two-year contract, committing both parties until the end of the 2019 season. On 28 August 2017, Lino was named in The 2017 Intrust Super Premiership NSW team of the year.

2018

Lino played in 8 NRL games for the Warriors in the 2018 season. In September, he signed a 2-year contract with the Newcastle Knights starting in 2019.

2019

In Lino's first season for the Knights, he debuted in round 4 against the

St. George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 after a joint-ve ...

. He played 12 games for the Knights, scored two tries and kicked 33 goals.

2020

In 2020, Lino only managed to play in five games for Newcastle before being released at the end of the season. In November, he signed a three-year contract with

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 ...

side

starting in 2021.

2021

Lino played 24 games for Wakefield Trinity in the 2021 Super League season as the club finished 10th on the table.

2022

Lino played 24 games for Wakefield Trinity in the 2022 Super League season which saw the club narrowly avoid relegation as they finished 10th.

2023

Lino played 22 games for Wakefield Trinity in the

Super League XXVIII {{Infobox rugby football league season , title = Super League XXVIII , league = Super League , logo = , pixels = , duration = 27 rounds + playoffs , no_of_teams = 12 , hig ...

season as the club finished bottom of the table and were relegated to the

RFL Championship The Championship, known as the Betfred Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a professional rugby league competition. It is the Rugby Football League Championship Second Division, second-tier competition organised by the Rugby Football Lea ...

which ended their 24-year stay in the top flight.

References

External links

Newcastle Knights profileNew Zealand Warriors profileNRL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lino, Mason 1994 births Living people Junior Kiwis players Marist Saints players New Zealand people of Chinese descent New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England New Zealand Warriors players Newcastle Knights players People educated at Avondale College Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league halfbacks Samoa national rugby league team players Samoan sportspeople Samoan emigrants to New Zealand Samoan people of Chinese descent Samoan rugby league players Sportspeople from Apia Sportspeople of Chinese descent